More Questions
by sketchnurse
Summary: House and Cuddy travel to DC for a business conference. Finding a deformed body in their bathtub, they bring it over the police, who then transfer it to the Jeffersonian to be identified. House is asked to treat a potential suspect.
1. Chapter 1

"I still don't get it. Why the hell are we in D.C.?" a gruff, unshaven man asked, out of breath from trying to keep up with his boss.

"I told you, House, I have a conference I need to go to tomorrow. I knew you had the mind of a five year old, but I was under the impression that your memory was more developed. I did only explain the situation when I asked you to come with me." Lisa Cuddy replied, rolling her eyes. She wasn't entirely oblivious to her employee's struggle to keep up with her, but chose to ignore it. He had played a rather juvenile prank on her the night before, involving replacing her salt with sugar and her sugar with salt. Needless to say she was not amused when her dinner guests tasted the lasagna and gagged on the cake. Her wine supply ran out quickly.

"I think the question I really want to ask is why am I here? Surely Wilson Wonderboy would have been the prime choice."

"And this is a really good time to ask, right when we're getting off the plane. Maybe you should have inquired before agreeing to come with me."

"You didn't answer my question. Why am I here?"

"And my answer would have changed since yesterday why? I told you, they wanted a head of department."

"Damn Cuddy, you never told me you fired Wilson! Otherwise, being a department head, he would have been perfect!"

"Ha. Maybe I don't even know why I invited you. Right now it's looking like a really bad idea." She walked over to the luggage and picked out her red suitcase.

"Oh, I know why you invited me. You just couldn't stand the thought of being away from me for a week." He smirked at her, grabbing his own black leather luggage.

"Right, I forgot, I'm madly in love with you. Keep dreaming, House. This trip is not an excuse to try to get in my pants, as much as I know you want to." She winked at him, then instantly regretted it. His eyes grew wide, but not mockingly so. There was an emotion in them that she couldn't quite place. Could it be longing?

"Is that an offer? It's one I couldn't refuse." His eyes glittered.

"No, it's not. This is a business trip, not a sex fest in my hotel room."

"Damn, because I thought this would be the weekend I would achieve my life goal, getting in your pants."

"You've already achieved it, then." Damn, she spoke without thinking, again. What was it about this man that always screwed her up? He winked at her.

"Ah, so you still remember that night, after your exams, on your desk. I guess I really should pick a new life goal then. Though I definitely wouldn't mind reliving that night when we get back to Princeton. I seem to recall that some valiant gentleman was kind enough to return that desk to you." They had reached the exit of the airport.

" Again, in your dreams, House. There's more chance of us finding a dead body in the hotel bathtub than of us ever having sex on my desk again." She reached into her purse for a map. "I think we need to go to the south exit to get to the taxis."

"You're the one with the map. Lead on, master." She rolled her eyes at him again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him limping behind him more heavily than before. She slowed her pace. Why on earth did she bring him anyway? She supposed that she figured he would be more fun to have around at the hotel bar than anyone else. Except Wilson. But he had some "business" to attend to that night. Business she suspected wore size double D and worked in accounting.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, who's paying for the taxi? You, me, or the hospital?" House opened the door of the nearest taxi and ushered Cuddy in.

"The hospital, as you well know." She turned to the driver. "Hilton Hotel, please."

"We're staying in the Hilton?"

"Yeah. I might have mentioned that to you when I explained the trip over the phone last week."

"Well, I probably didn't explain to you that I was smashed out of my mind that night."

God. She should have known.

"Having more crazy fun nights with your hookers?" she asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Oh, yeah. Good times. You should join us sometime." He said sarcastically, definitely not wanting her to know he was alone in his apartment, playing the piano with a bottle of scotch and a thousand jumbled up feelings, including his increasing attraction to her. He was rather surprised at the invite, he remembered that. He didn't remember much else though. Just some inspirations for fantasies about them together in hotel bed.

"Well, looks like we're here." She said, after a long and awkward pause in the conversation.

"Yeah. Fancy place. Surprised the hospital could afford to send us here, what with all the complaining I hear about the budget." He stepped out of the taxi, and to her surprise, stuck out his hand. She gaped at him.

"Come on, Cuddy, it's just my hand. I'm just helping you out of a taxi. This isn't some binding contract." He gave her a big, exaggerated frown.

"For all I know, it could mean I'm obliged to sleep with you tonight."

"Sex on your mind? There's only one solution for that."

"Right. If anyone has sex on their mind, it's the hormonal fourteen year old diagnostician I foolishly decided to bring with me. And if there's anyone who needs help getting out of a taxi, it's you."

"Ooooh, deflecting by insulting the cripple. I'm sure to let Wilson know about that particular strategy. Then again, that's the only way he gets around my shockingly accurate accusations. I'm sure you'll change you mind about the sex after we hit the bar tonight." He winked at her again, but more obviously.

"Hitting the bar with you? That's a really smart idea. I'll probably end up peeling you off the bar stool at five in the morning." She reluctantly took his hand. His grip was surprisingly firm.

"Thanks." She muttered, looking away from his eyes.

"Oh, Cuddy! Someone forgot to pay the poor taxi driver!" She cursed herself for forgetting. He chucked as she scrambled over to the driver's seat, looking flustered. The driver drove off.

"Well, should we camp out here, or just check in.? I'm sure you brought enough panties to make a tent with, so we should do just fine."

"No, I think I might need my panties. You see, I actually change my underwear more than once a month."

"Once every two weeks, actually. Let's go." The check in desk was empty. Cuddy walked up to it.

"Lisa Cuddy, I have a reservation." The receptionist looked through his planner.

"Ah, room 201. Cash or credit?" House noticed that the man at the desk was rather handsome. He felt a pang of jealously at the attention Cuddy was giving him. He seriously needed to stop thinking about her that way. She was his boss, it would be unethical. But since when did he care about ethicality? It's just an excuse, a voice in his head told him, you just don't want to attach yourself to anything. _Shut up_, he told the voice in his head.

"Uh, House? You coming up, or are you just going to stare up at the lighting until the trip is over?" Cuddy was looking at him strangely. He must have zoned out.

"Yeah, just admiring the architecture. Looks like something I designed in fourth grade." His snide remark just barely the strangeness of the moment. He limped over to the elevator.

"What floor are we on?" She was still looking at him strangely. "Come on, like that's the only time you've caught me staring into space."

"The second floor. And yes, that's the only time I've caught you staring into space after giving the receptionist dirty looks. If you were a different person I would say you were jealous of our two minute conversation. But you being completely emotionless, I would say your circuitry shorted out for a while."

"Really? Jealous of your conversation? I forgot about my incredible protectiveness of you. Maybe we should just confine ourselves to the room for the remainder of the trip."

"I'm sure that's exactly what you want. Which means no." She got into the elevator, along with several other people. She found herself squished against House's chest. He looked down at her.

"See, I don't bite. Unless you want me to." He gave her a rare grin, which she found herself returning. She chided herself. Don't get into that. Just keep your feelings for him in the back of your head, and the trip will go fine. Why the hell did she invite him?


	3. Chapter 3

She survived the elevator trip, but only just barely. It was incredibly hard to look up at his face and resist the urge to kiss him. God, what was wrong with her? He was sexy, yes, and incredibly intelligent, but she couldn't possibly have a relationship with him. And he couldn't possibly want one. House was the king of non-commitment.

"Room 201. This is us, right?"

"Yeah. I have the key card." She swiped the card in the lock, and the door opened.

"I claim the bedroom!" House limped over to the king bed in the middle of the room, and dropped his suitcase unceremoniously on the mattress.

"There's two bedrooms, House. Mine's probably in here." She said, opening a door. But it was only a bathroom. She opened the door on the other side, but it was only a closet.

"Don't think so Cuddy. Unless the closet is a magical expandable room."

"They said they booked a suite" she muttered, half to herself. With luck, they could get transferred to the right room. But luck didn't seem to be on her side lately.

'I'll phone the front desk, see if they can get the room changed."

"What, you can't sleep in the same bed as me? I'm really not that bad."

"Yes, you are." Who knew what could happen if she fell asleep before House in the same bed? She would probably wake up naked, covered in whipped cream.

"Hello? This is Lisa Cuddy, from 201. I was under the impression that I had booked a two bedroom suite. This room only has one bed." House watched her expression change from professional indifference to anger. She hung up the phone in fury.

"Someone decided that it might be a good idea to overbook the hotel. This is the only room available for tonight." She thought she would be angry at having to sleep in the same bed as House, but she was angrier at the hotel for their unprofessionalism. In the back of her mind, she actually felt excited at the prospect of sharing the king size with him. Of course, she never listened to the back of her mind.

"Who knows, Cuddy, this could be a good bonding experience. And if we sleep together, maybe it will get your mind off sex." She rolled her eyes. The man was far too insistent. She couldn't even tell if he was joking about sleeping with her half the time.

"Just because we're going to sleep in the same bed, doesn't mean we're going to have sex."

"So, sex in the bathtub instead? I'm always up for trying new things."

"No. Are you hungry at all? We could go down the restaurant." Great, dinner in a nice restaurant with House. She only hoped that they got all male employees. She didn't think she could take him ogling the waitress in her tired, confused state.

"Actually, I'm starving. Is the food any good?"

"I don't know. But we should go eat soon, it's almost eight."

"And to think, my poor team is probably slaving over some impossible case without me at this very moment. I'll feel guilty taking a beautiful woman to dinner." Beautiful, not hot or sexy. She registered the compliment. With him, she took what she could get.

" Like you feel guilty about anything." He looked away. He felt guilty about a lot of things, actually, but that wasn't something he shared with anyone.

"Should we just go down? I don't really want to change."

"No, you look good."

"No snide comments and two compliments? You must really be starving. Let's go."


	4. Chapter 4

They walked back to the elevator. Why did he say she was beautiful? She might have taken it as a joke, but it wasn't, really. Even though she had been up all day, travelling with him, she was still beautiful. And telling her she looked good, without some sort of snide remark? Hopefully she still thought he was acting like a real person because he was hungry. Which he was. But he had to be careful. They had been playing the game for years now, but something in House's head had changed recently. Or maybe Cuddy was just getting more playful. But it was getting harder and harder not to jump her when he saw her in the hospital. When she isn't screaming false accusations at him, that is. Their bantering turned him on, but there was nothing attractive about a screaming, angry Cuddy. Well, maybe there was. But usually his defensive side went into overdrive in those situations, and he thought less about screwing her and more about getting out of there without lasting scars.

They were alone in the elevator. No hope in hell of having Cuddy pressed up against his chest again. Having her body against his had sent waves of electricity through him. God, he was thinking about her a lot. He looking over at her, but she was staring down at her shoes, obviously thinking about something. Couldn't be me, could it, he thought. It could. And he wished she was thinking about him. He found himself looking forward to sitting across from her in a dimly lit restaurant, staring into her eyes, making jokes and comments about her ass compared to the waitress'. Her ass would probably win, he reasoned.

"What floor is the restaurant on, anyway?" he asked.

"The first, I think." She got off the elevator, and he limped after her. The restaurant looked promising. And surprisingly empty.

"I thought this place was supposed to be packed up the ass." he commented.

"Maybe everyone went somewhere else. Let's just get a table."

The food's probably bad, he thought as they stepped up to the desk.

"For two, please." She told the man at the desk.

"Ah, a date? You two look like you make a fantastic couple." He smiled indulgently.

"We're not -" Cuddy started.

"We're not used to the whole couple thing yet," House cut in, a look of malice on his face. "This is only our fourth date."

"Fabulous. We have a table available, by the window. It's rather romantic. I can bring you some complementary champagne, if you are a guest at the hotel."

"That would be lovely." House followed the waiter, and Cuddy followed behind. House was probably planning something stupid and reckless that would get her drunken face sent around the hospital. But two could play at that game. She did have a camera in her phone, after all.

"Here we are. I'll come over with the champagne and the menus shortly." He walked off, looking rather stupid in his uniform.

"So, the point of telling him we are dating was?" she asked, as soon as they sat down.

"Just thought it would make things more interesting. Couples usually get free things, or at least better treatment. Besides, you can't tell me that you wouldn't want to be here as a couple." He stared intently at her. What the hell did he ask her that for? And no, she couldn't say that she wouldn't like that. She would like that very much. But him? He wouldn't let her near his true feelings with a fifty foot pole.


	5. Chapter 5

She blushed and looked away.

"No." she said softly.

"So, you would like to go on a date with me? I can have that arranged. Cuddy, would you like to go out for dinner with me tonight? I see you're already here, so I'm assuming that's a yes." She looked back up at him. His eyes were dancing with pleasure. Could he actually have been serious? His reply was sarcastic, yes, but why would he have asked her that?

"That doesn't really give me much choice, does it? But I suppose we might as well enjoy our own company, while we're here." And they did. The champagne helped mellow them out, and despite House's earlier reservations about the food, their meals were rather good. They laughed together in a way that told the waiter that they were completely drunk.

"House. It's ten. Maybe we should go back to the hotel room." Cuddy finally said, after finishing their deserts.

"Back to the hotel room? Is that an offer?"

"Maybe." Shit, no it wasn't. She didn't want to sleep with him. Well, she did, but not on the first night. Or the second night. It would probably be best if she put off sex for as long as possible. This would be really hard, because the conference would be during the day, leaving night free. She sighed.

"No, it's not an offer, House. I don't want to sleep with you tonight." She told him firmly, telling him just as much as she was telling herself. She registered the disappointment in his eyes, just before it was replaced with his normal expression.

"Tomorrow night then? I know you don't screw on the first date."

"I thought this wasn't a date." she said.

"Well, I thought it was. I sure had a good time. Are you saying you didn't enjoy my company? That hurts."

"I did. But we really should get to sleep. The conference starts at ten tomorrow."

"Wait, I actually have to come? I thought you just wanted someone to keep you company on those lonely nights."

"No, actually. You will be listening to all the exciting guest speakers, and you will NOT be getting into a lawsuit. I'd really prefer it if you just shut up for the rest of the week."

"Still hurting here. I guess we should go back then, if you expect me to wake up that early." He called over the waiter and asked for the check.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll wake you up. We're sharing the bed, remember?"

They paid, and went back to the elevator.

"So, you want the left side or the right side?" he asked her.

"The left." Damn, she knew he wanted that side. Should he be nice and give it to her, or fight for it? She smirked at him.

"I guess I'll take the right then."

"Okay, seriously House, what's wrong with you tonight? First the compliments, then the funny questions, now giving me the left side?" He didn't answer.

"Whatever." The both exited and went back to the room.

"I'm going to get changed out here; I can't seem to get the bathroom door open. Please don't make stupid comments about the shape of my breasts or anything." She pulled off her top, revealing a lacy black bra. House felt something twinge in his pants. She turned around and unclasped the bra, fully aware of the effect she was having on him. She didn't know why she was teasing him like this, but it gave her a sense of satisfaction. She pulled on a silk tank, and then removed her dress pants. She climbed into bed.

"Are you going to get changed, or am I going to have to share the bed with all the people who sat in the same plane seat as you?"

"That's all you're wearing to bed? No bomb suits or bubble wrap?" he asked, pulling his pants off.

"I assume that we can be adults and share the bed without any awkwardness."

House climbed into bed, playfully nudging her out of the left side. She tried very, very hard not to show her pleasure at seeing him in his boxers, with no shirt on. It was going to be very hard falling asleep knowing that he was right there.


	6. Chapter 6

He set himself down on the bed, fully aware of Cuddy breathing softly next to him. She looked at him, and he could tell by the look in her eyes that she was struggling with something.

"Goodnight." he grumbled, as she turned away from him.

"Goodnight. God this is weird."

"Yeah. Goodnight." He found his thoughts drifting back towards Cuddy. She was sleeping right next to him, and he couldn't touch her. This was probably the closest they had gotten since he kissed her. He was still beating himself up for that. He had given in to his desire, and kissed her. It was a smoldering kiss, one that left him wanting a lot more, but he knew he had to leave right away. He wanted to kiss her right now. Who was he kidding; he always wanted to kiss her. He looked at her sleeping form, and decided he would take a risk. He wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her close.

"House…" she mumbled, "I don't want to have sex." She opened her eyes halfway and looked up at him.

"You looked cold. I thought I'd offer some extra warmth. But if you don't want it…"

"No, it's fine. Just don't do anything while I'm asleep. Goodnight." She fell back asleep in his arms. She was warm, soft, and incredibly comforting. He kissed her on the top of her head, and fell asleep.

***********

The first thing she saw when she woke up was House's hand. It was lying right by her face. She realized that House was wrapped around her, and she was lying on his chest. His bare chest. She smiled at the thought. He was warm, and she felt incredible, just lying with him in the hotel bed. They hadn't made love the night before, but she felt extremely satisfied. She had had a great night, and here was more proof that a relationship with him wouldn't be so bad. Great, she was back to that. One side of her brain tried to tell her that it still wasn't a good idea; House had been drunk when they had gotten into bed, and probably wasn't thinking straight. _But, _said the other side, _alcohol removes inhibitions. _If he had just wanted to have sex, he would have been more insistent. She would have eventually given in. But he just wanted to have her close to him. She smiled again at the thought. _If I hadn't brought him to the conference, I never would have shared the bed with him. _Shit. The conference. She looked at the clock. Damn, they should have been up half an hour ago. She removed herself from House's arms, and walked over to the bathroom. She tried the door. It still wouldn't open. She needed some "man power".

"House?" His sleeping form moved slightly.

"Eughhh?" he inquired.

"House, can you get up and open this damn door for me? I need take a shower or we're going to be late."

"Can't have that, can we? Would reflect badly on the hospital, and I think I reflect badly on the hospital enough. You need a man to get through that door."

"It's just a stuck door handle. Nothing incredibly difficult." He got up and tried the door handle. It wouldn't budge.

"It's locked."

"Yeah, I can see that. Why the hell would it be locked now? I could open it last night."

"I don't know. Get me a bobby pin." Cuddy searched through her bag until she found one.

"Here." She said, handing him the pin, "Although you'd think that the locks in a hotel would be made to withstand a bobby pin."

"You'd be surprised." She didn't ask him how he knew this. Sure enough, the door clicked open after a few tries.

"I'll go first. I have to inspect the plumbing before you take a shower. Diagnosticians attending conferences with their bosses rules." Cuddy rolled her eyes. Did he have to make a joke out of everything? Why the hell was the bathroom locked anyway?

House mimed checking the pipes in the sink, before moving onto the toilet.

"Everything seems fine, Dr. Cuddy. You can take a dump now." He swept away the curtains hiding the bathtub. Cuddy heard a sharp intake of breath.

"What's wrong House, the plumbing wrong for my shower? Or is it one of those ones that only operate when two people are in it at once?" House said nothing.

"House? Is everything alright?" She stepped into the bathroom, then gasped. House turned to speak to her.

"Well, Cuddy. Looks like we're going to be having sex on your desk after all."


	7. Chapter 7

"Dr. Brennan. The police just brought this one in. Apparently it was found in a Hilton Hotel bathroom tub by two doctors from Princeton, in for a conference." Hodgins addressed Brennan as she walked into the lab.

"Do we know how long the body was in the tub?" she asked, looking at the cadaver. It was bloated and white, probably from being in the bathtub. The clothing was wet, but otherwise intact.

"No, the man who found it, Dr. House, said they didn't find it until the next morning. They had only had the room since seven thirty last night. They went out for dinner, then went to bed." Cam answered, appearing beside Brennan.

"Too busy trying to get in each other's pants to have a shower?" asked Angela.

"Apparently they're in a strictly platonic relationship." said Hodgins.

"And you would know this how?"

"I was in Princeton about five months ago when I developed a rash and got checked out in the clinic. I heard them arguing about their relationship while I was leaving the hospital. Dr. House is famous for being a gigantic ass."

"Things could have changed in five months."

"Not the way this guy treats people. He caught me staring at him, then asked me why the hell I thought I had anything to do with his problems."

"Sounds like a fun guy to work with."

"Can we get back to the case, please?" Brennan looked rather agitated.

"Of course. The dental records indentified the body to be one Oliver Desmond, a local businessman." Cam took out a file.

"Apparently the last time he was seen was last Tuesday, at a planning meeting for the upcoming medical conference."

"Would that be the same conference that the two doctors were going to?" Brennan inquired.

"Yeah. Dr. Lisa Cuddy was invited to the conference to discuss a business deal for the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, where she is currently Dean of Medicine. Apparently she had met with Oliver Desmond before. She declined his offer, but agreed to come to the conference. She asked Dr. Gregory House, the Head of Diagnostics, to accompany her."

"Could one of them have kidnapped Desmond then drowned him in the tub?" asked Hodgins.

"No," said Brennan, as she examined the body. "I would say the body has been in the tub with the bathwater for at least four days. They would have had to have been here earlier than they said."

"Their flight records show they arrived yesterday." said Angela.

"Perhaps we should bring them in for Booth to question."

"They've already been interrogated by the police."

"They're probably the only lead we have." said Hodgins.

"I'll call Booth then."

"We'll look for a cause of death while you call him."

"We also need to figure out a way to dehydrate the body before we can look at the tissue damage." Angela smirked.

"I think I have an idea."


	8. Chapter 8

"So, we're going back to the police?" House walked out of the hotel with Cuddy, trying to get the story straight as they walked.

"No, we're going to get questioned by the FBI. Why do I feel like I always have to explain everything twice to you?" After finding the body in the bathtub that morning, they called the police and were brought in for questioning. The interrogations had lasted most of the day, and Cuddy was forced to call the organizers of the conference to tell them that she wouldn't be there that day.

"How is being questioned by the FBI any different that being questioned by the police? Unless, of course, I get to play good cop bad cop with a scantily clad agent. In that case, we should get into more homicides."

"House, we're just getting questioned for a couple hours. Not going to some ill themed strip joint." Cuddy stepped into the cab she had ordered, motioning House to follow her.

He stepped in, making sure that his cane didn't get jammed in the door before closing it.

"Why do they need to ask us more questions anyway? I thought we made it perfectly clear that we just found the body in the tub. No murder, body disposal or post mortem sexual abuse."

"They IDed the victim. Apparently it's Oliver Desmond, the man who was running the conference we're supposed to be attending. I've been in contact with him, so they need to ask me a few more questions." She turned to the cab driver. "The Jeffersonian Institute, please."

"So that means we don't have a conference to go to? My offer of spending the rest of the week in the hotel bed still stands." Cuddy just rolled her eyes at him.

"Why am I coming with you? I don't know anything about the guy, except that I found him in our hotel bathtub."

"You don't remember Oliver Desmond? He was the one that got us to cal that ridiculous board meeting, about upgrading the wiring in our MRI machines. He called you out for popping bubbles when he was in the middle of speaking."

"Ah, him. Had a toupee? Wore pants that were a little too small? Red socks and a green tie?"

"I'm surprised you remember what he was wearing that day. You usually don't remember when I order you to be in the clinic on time or when I tell you NOT to do a risky test on an infant."

"But that stuff is boring, Cuddy. Much more interesting and useful to remember what brand of knock off loafers some obsolete businessman wears. Or what color bra you were wearing when you kicked me out of your office for the 784th time". Cuddy resisted the urge to roll her eyes. An urge that was particularly strong whenever House was involved in anything. In this case, it probably would be useful to remember what brand of loafers Desmond wore that day. Knowing the FBI, they would probably turn it into some sort of motive for a brand crazy psycho killer. House didn't care that he didn't listen to her. If House listened to her, he wouldn't be House, and she wouldn't be madly in love with him. Madly in love? Since when had she decided on that? It wasn't like last night was an amazing, life changing experience. They had just had a nice, relaxing dinner together and House hadn't tried to get in her pants. Well, not too hard. Maybe that was it. He hadn't been a perfect gentleman, far from it, but last night he didn't make an effort to screw with her. Maybe, like her, he was just tired from travelling all day. She smiled in spite of herself at the memory of him reaching over and pulling her body to his. She had felt so good in his arms. But of course, House was back to acting like his normal egotistical, heartless self. Perhaps he had noticed her noticing the change in his behavior, because he seemed to be making an effort to be as snide and sarcastic as possible.

"What are you smiling about? Still getting fuzzy-headed over the thought of my arms around you?" Ha. Maybe he wasn't trying to avoid the subject. Just making light of it to try to twist her mind into thinking he was screwing with her. Well, she knew he wasn't. His embrace had been warm, and full of a dozen unspoken emotions that Cuddy was sure House would never bring up. She decided to switch tactics.

"Actually, I was thinking about how great it would have been if we had made love last night." She could almost hear his jaw dropping.


	9. Chapter 9

House recovered from the unexpected comment quickly, using his preferred method.

"And I was under the impression you weren't interested. There will be plenty of time for sinful deeds after we finish getting questioned by the Federal Bureau of Intimidation. I mean the FBI." Had she really said that? She probably wasn't being serious. Or she didn't think she was. But he had seen the look of contentment on her face when he had woken up with his arms around her. Come to think of it, he had not been that relaxed in a long time. Happy, even. But he knew that Cuddy would never let herself sleep with him, though he knew she wanted perhaps even more than he did. He wondered again why he had agreed to go on the trip with her. After realizing the next day he had agreed to go to some boring conference with his boss, House had chosen to push the thought out of his mind until the day of the trip. But really, he knew there wouldn't be any gain from spending a week in the same room as her, torturing himself with incredible fantasies that could become all too real with the right circumstances. Circumstances. Finding a mutilated corpse in the bathroom had to be the most impossible circumstance he could have imagined.

"We're only going to be there for a few hours, try not to make a complete ass out of yourself. And we're only going to be dealing with one FBI agent, not an entire brigade."

House heard the hint of hysteria in her otherwise uniform and calm voice. She was really freaked out about the whole situation, and was doing a really good job of hiding it. But House knew when something was up with his boss. Knowing her for more than twenty years meant that he almost always knew when something was up.

"Damn. There goes my vision of an exciting, heart-pounding experience. What's the set up going to be like, a dusty wooden desk, three bar stools and a lone naked lightbulb?"

"I think they do things a bit more professionally than you would, House. Usually, sub standard interrogation rooms don't give people incentive to spill the beans about the dead body they found in the hotel bathroom."

"Speaking of dead bodies in the bathtub, did you not say that you would do me on your desk when we got back if we found one?"

"I believe I said that there was more chance of us finding a dead body in the bathtub than of us ever having sex on my desk again. I think that's rather different than the statement you just quoted. Just because the thing I said was more likely to happen happened doesn't mean we're going to relieve our night of fantastic, reckless passion." Maybe she shouldn't have said the reckless passion part. She definitely didn't want him knowing just how much she wanted him.

"If I said that there was more chance of me ordering pickles on my sandwich than of me getting married, and I showed up to work with a pickely Reuben, I'm sure you would use my vegetable selection to justify your whirlwind proposal. Which I would, by the way, gracefully decline. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not really the commitment type."

No, she had definitely noticed. "Like I would ever sustain enough brain damage to propose to you." She snorted, laughing silently in her mind at the ridiculousness of their conversation. "Besides, we don't need to get married; we already fight like an old couple. And no, we are still not having sex on my desk when we get back."

House put on a big, sappy frown.

"Darn. Well, I have nothing to look forward to now. Guess I better just shut up and be a good boy until we get there. Unless you want be to be a bad boy, because I can be a very, very bad boy." He winked at her. God, did he ever stop thinking about sex? And could she ever stop imagining them together when he brought it up?

"Just stay on your side of the car until we get there, then shut up and act like a normal human being until we get to the interrogation. Then you can answer all the questions that the FBI agents ask you with a minimal amount of sarcasm."

"Wouldn't that just make your day? But there's only one way I want to make your day."


	10. Chapter 10

"I'm starting to think that you actually want to sleep with me." she said.

"No Cuddy, I don't want to sleep with my boss. What ever made you think that I would ever want to do a psychotic bitch of an administrator with a killer body and an undeniable attraction to me?" Cuddy sighed. This conversation was going nowhere. At least not anywhere she wanted it to go.

"Can you please stop half-heartedly pursuing me? Because I really don't have time to figure out whether or not you're being serious. I have things to do. My job doesn't consist of skipping clinic duty, sitting in my office waiting for my weekly case, and drinking myself to a stupor in front of my piano every night. I actually know what I want to do with the rest of my life, and I know it's not chasing after some pill popping misanthropic doctor that I was in love with twenty years ago." Damn. That was a little more than she had wanted to say. Actually, a lot more than what she wanted to say. Cuddy hadn't even been aware half that stuff was on her mind.

House was silent. She didn't look at him, not wanting to see what expression he had plastered on his ridiculously handsome face. He was probably telling himself that she wasn't serious, or that she didn't matter to him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"You were in love with me?" He turned toward her, and looked into her eyes. For once, his weren't filled with contempt, or any of the other emotions she was used to seeing on the rare occasion she stared into his brilliant blue eyes.

"Yeah." She heard her voice crack slightly. What was wrong with her? "Twenty years ago." They had dated, when they were in med school, and she had been completely infatuated with him. Part of her knew that she was still infatuated.

"And you're still in love with me."

"And what would make you think that?"

"Like I said, only reason you would have brought me instead of Wilson."

"I didn't bring Wilson because he had a Very Important Date with a certain woman from accounting, not because of my unrequited love for you."

"So you admit you have unrequited love for me?"

"House, we're almost there, can we please end this conversation?" The taxi slowed down and pulled over in front of the Jeffersonian. House grinned at her before opening the door and getting out.

"Fine." He offered his hand again, and she took it reluctantly. "But you never actually said you weren't in love with me." Cuddy didn't reply. Why did he pick today, of all days, to be so infuriating and annoyingly accurate? She really didn't want to have the relationship talk with him before going in to be interrogated about a murder. It was ridiculous. She kept walking, determined not to look at him.


	11. Chapter 11

"So, how exactly did you know Oliver Desmond?" Brennan looked on as Booth questioned the two doctors. She was standing with Sweets, who didn't look too pleased.

"He ran a meeting at the hospital about five months ago. He talked to us about possibly replacing the wiring in our MRI machines with newer wire that was to be provided by his company. I had talked to him over the phone twice before and in person once to arrange the meeting. He asked me to dinner, but I declined. He was visibly disappointed." Who wouldn't be, House thought as he tapped the pads of his fingers against the table. "Two months ago, he contacted me about coming to a conference he was setting up in D.C., along with a high ranking member of my staff. I agreed, on the terms that he would not try to persuade me to buy his products or to go to dinner with him. That was the last time I talked to him. His assistant sent me the final details of the conference last Wednesday via email." She remained composed, and everyone else in the room thought that she was handling the situation rather well. House, however, was well aware she had put herself in 'control' mode. This happened when she was stressed beyond belief and chose to push everything to the back of her mind and focus on the present. He knew this could only go on for so long before she blew up.

"That man, Dr. House, is very distracting." Brennan noted, as the volume of his finger tapped steadily increased. "I am finding it hard to focus on Dr. Cuddy while he is tapping his fingers in rhythm on the table."

"That's just the type of person he is." replied Sweets, still noticeably agitated.

"There are types of people who think that they should be as distracting and inhibiting to others as possible?" asked Brennan, who was actually genuinely intrigued. Sweets, however, took it as more of her mockery of psychology.

"Yes. There are also types of people who subconsciously and unintentionally insult the intelligence of other people they believe are beneath them." She didn't get the hint, but didn't ask him any more questions, instead choosing to focus on the interrogation.

"Well, Dr. Cuddy, your story checks out. Now, for you, Dr. Gregory House. Says here that Desmond filed a complaint against you when he visited the hospital. Care to explain?" House looked at Cuddy.

"You never told me about a complaint."

She almost rolled her eyes, but then realized it probably wouldn't be smart in their current situation.

"You get hundreds of complaints; I didn't think this one would be more important than any other."

"So, Dr. Cuddy, what exactly did he complain about?"

"Disrespect for authority, juvenile behavior, unprofessionalism, verbal assault, the usual." she answered, well aware that it wasn't really usual for a head of department to have complaints against him for blowing raspberries.

"So, you get a lot of complaints?"

"Yeah. Does putting bags of dirty socks in the nurse's lockers put me on the murder suspect list?" Cuddy inwardly groaned. He was doing exactly what she had hoped he wouldn't and knew he would do. He was being a sarcastic ass, the same thing that got complaints filed against him.

"No. But you're definitely on my list now."

"Oooh, I'm on the FBI man's list. I'm real scared now."

"House." muttered Cuddy quietly, a warning look in her eyes. Too quietly apparently, because he didn't listen to her.

"Look, buddy, I was under the impression that you were going to be cooperative. But if you'd rather play games with me, I can always throw you in county for a couple of nights; see if you want to be serious then."

"County?" scoffed House, "You think I'm going to be threatened with a couple nights in the local jail? As I'm sure you've already assumed, I've already spent more than a few nights in prison."

"Yeah, I've read your file. Also says you've gone to rehab for Vicodin addiction. Didn't really make it though, did you?"

"And what the hell does that have to do with the case?"

"I'm just looking for possible reasons for murder. You're unstable, maybe this man's complaint against you pushed you over the edge, maybe you went and killed him."

"Yeah, and maybe I clean out chimneys for a living. I didn't even know about his complaint against me, like Cuddy said, I get hundreds of them, you think that one more would make a difference? There's not really much chance that I killed him, I haven't been in contact with him for months. I'm under the impression that you don't like me. It hurts. Maybe you should ask her some more questions; she probably has more answers than me. Or are you just going waste time playing bad cop because you feel threatened by me?"

"Does Booth really feel threatened by him?" Brennan asked Sweets.

"Probably, although he'd never admit it. He's had worse interrogations though."

"I don't understand why he refuses to simply answer the questions. Surely he's realized that the sooner the questions are answered, the sooner they get out of there."

"He seems to be a complex person, with deep personal issues and a hard addiction."

"How could she let someone like him practice medicine in her hospital? I would think that a person would like him would be risky to have working around sick people."

"He's a brilliant diagnostician, but he does have a bit of a reputation. He's saved the lives of many patients that others have given up on, though."

"But why put up with him everyday?"

"I suppose his reputation as a brilliant doctor adds to her hospital. Also, I suspect that they have a history together."

"Like a sexual history? You don't think they're sleeping together, do you?"

"No, but most likely they have had some sort of a romantic relationship in the past. You see the way he looks at her when she speaks?" he asked, gesturing to the room where Cuddy was speaking.

"Not really."

"Well, despite his flippant, arrogant manner, he actually seems very protective of her. I've seen him repress the urge to put his hand on her arm, several times, actually. He notices that she is not relaxed."

"She isn't? Her replies seem very calm to me." Brennan replied.

"No, she is actually quite tense, but is adept at hiding her discomfort. She is used to putting on a professional front in threatening situations."

"I don't see how answering a few questions for an investigation is a threatening situation. I would actually think the experience would be relaxed."

"It's a new situation for her. She deals with death everyday, but murder is something new to her. She likes to be in control." Brennan turned once again back to the interrogation room, deep in thought.

"Well, I think that's all I needed to cover with you and Dr. House. If I need to contact you, I have your information. You'll be staying in D.C. for the rest of the week?"

"Well, with the conference being cancelled and all, there really isn't a reason to-"

"We'll find something to do here; we wouldn't want to cancel our return trip and have to reserve a new one, would we? That would cost the hospital extra."

"You just want to see the White House, don't you?"

"White House? Why would I want to see some stupid White House? I want to hit all the bars here. I hear there are some really good ones." This time, Cuddy did roll her eyes.

"We'll be here until next Monday, I suppose, although, what we'll do…"

"You can do me." She rolled her eyes again at his stupid, predictable response. She had set herself up for that one.

"I'll just leave you two alone. You obviously have some personal issues to work through. I'll call you if I need-"

"Yup, call if you need to borrow our used toothbrushes, got it. Let's go Cuddy. Before we have to meet the people behind the one way glass over there." He waved to Brennan and Sweets, who looked at him incredulously.

"How did you-"

"Know they were over there? I've been interrogated before, and you kept looking over there when you were stuck for a question. Can we leave now?"

"Yeah. Bye."

"It was good to meet you, Special Agent Booth." Cuddy extended her hand, and Booth shook it soundly.

"Yeah, yeah, say goodbye to the hot FBI man, maybe he'll slip you his number."

She glared at him. Always with the inappropriate comments.

"Man, just wait till I tell Wilson that we found a dead guy! I mean, there's tons of dead guys in the hospital, but this one was murdered!" She led him out of the room, glancing back apologetically at Booth, with a look that said hey, at least he didn't do anything really stupid.


	12. Chapter 12

"Well, that was exciting! I think we made a new friend, Cuddy! He's pretty good looking, maybe when he sorts through all the nasty homicide business you can take him out for a couple drinks!" Back to his sarcasm, as she knew he would go. She also knew that the interview had bothered him, at least slightly, although of course the chances of him admitting it were about the same as him becoming a ballet dancer.

"You go ahead and continue to treat it as a joke; I will be the professional one, as usual. You know, it wouldn't have killed you to be a bit more helpful in there."

"Sure it would have. If I had cooperated, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun. And you know that a life without fun would kill me." Yup, his life was full of fun things like chronic pain, addiction and solitude. Where would he be without his misery?  
"Just because it bothered you to answer all those questions doesn't mean you need to be flippant with me." They walked out of the building and stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the taxi Cuddy had just called.

"Bothered me? Why would it have bothered me? You were the bothered one. You can't trick me with your calm, collected exterior. Inside you were buzzing with fear and desire. The desire was for me, of course. Admit it; you're freaked out about the whole thing."

"And you're pissed off that you found another person who can get inside your head. How many people actually talk to you about what you've been through? Me and Wilson, that's about it. And that therapist you gave up on."

"That still doesn't mean that you're a little bit on edge about the whole body in the bathtub thing. I would be too, if I were an attractive forty-something hospital administrator who is trying to control the urge to do her asshole employee every time she looks at him. That's a lot of stuff to repress. You need some sort of release, like sex."

"Yeah, right. Like I would ever do you." Oh, would she ever. They had slipped back into their game, shooting barbs and sexual comments at each other to mask their real desires.

"Oh, you would. But I guess murder is a bit of a mood killer. Best to wait until we get back, where we have your desk waiting." They must have been an odd pair, two professionally dressed adults arguing like teenagers, waiting for a taxi. One that seemed to be taking forever.

"When the hell is the taxi going to get here?" she asked, changing the subject. House noticed, but decided to play along.

"I don't know, why don't you phone the taxi company?" She looked around in her purse for her phone.

"I can't find my phone."

"Well, when was the last time you saw it? Did you leave it in the building?"

"I don't think so; I probably left it in the hotel. Can we use your phone?" Just then, the taxi pulled up.

"Well, get in. Unless you want to continue our discussion about your repression of your sexual need for my body. Then you better get in quicker, so we can get back to the hotel and discuss it on the bed."

"Ha ha. Get in the taxi House."


	13. Chapter 13

"Where are we going?" Brennan asked as Booth pulled her into his car.

"We have to go talk to Ms. Ruth Baker, the last person to have seen Desmond alive. She took him out for dinner last Tuesday." He answered as he started the car.

"But where are we going?" she asked again.

"We're going to the Georgetown University Hospital. She's currently in treatment there."

"For what?"

"They don't know yet. She was brought in two days ago, but had been suffering nausea and headaches for several months."

"Why was she just brought in two days ago if she had been noticeably ill for several months?" Brennan inquired, puzzled, "The first thing I would have done if I had noticed my body was out of balance would have been to go to my doctor."

"Yeah, well, some people don't like admitting to themselves that something is wrong. Even if they know it will harm them later." Brennan nodded, knowing what Booth was talking about. Sometimes you just felt like if you ignored something for long enough, it would go away. But she also knew that some things never went away.

"Is she able to speak to us properly?" she asked him, deciding to move the conversation away from dangerous waters.

"Well, the medical team hasn't exactly kept me posted, but she seems to be pretty functional." They were silent after that, each absorbed in their own thoughts as the car moved through the city to the hospital.

"Well, Bones, here we are. The Georgetown University Hospital. Let's just hope all the med students know what they're doing with our suspect."

"You think that she killed him?"

"Well, you know how women are after a bad date…" he remarked.

"No, I don't." she said in that innocent voice that made him curse himself for trying to make a joke. Jokes were often lost on her, but he always tried. Besides, her company was always enjoyable and didn't depend on her ability to understand his humour. She understood him in other ways that no one else did, ways that made him happy that she was his partner. Though sometimes, he wished that she was something a little…

"Special Agent Booth?" The harsh female voice interrupted his thoughts, though he was secretly relieved he didn't make it down that road again. Every once and a while, he started to think about Temperance Brennan in ways that were different from their current relationship, ways that made his mind drift off in directions far from where he was supposed to be.

"Yeah. Dr. Isles?" He looked at the severe woman that stood in front of him, taking in the wiry silver hair pulled into a bun, the smooth skin stretched tight across her features, and the thick glasses that covered most of the top half of her small face. She looked like a woman who had been through one too many rowdy graduate classes.

"I was told to take you up to Ruth Baker's room, is that correct?" she asked, her voice cold and emotionless. She looked like she could use a couple nights on the town, or at least a long bubble bath.

"Yeah." He answered again, waiting for her to ask who the pretty woman standing next to him was, or at least show them the way up to the patient.

"I assume this is your girlfriend. Though I don't understand why you would need to take her on your cases. Seems a little unorthodox."

"I'm not his girlfriend." Brennan answered quickly. "I'm his partner." She finished, wondering why on earth the doctor would assume something like that. It was ridiculous how even women working in such an intense and demanding field assumed that just because she was attractive, she couldn't possibly have beyond mediocre intelligence. And her and Booth together? Sure, she knew she was attracted to him, but she had always thought that a relationship between them wouldn't work out, for obvious reasons.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't informed about a partner. Shall we go up now, then?"

Booth chewed on his lip, still in thought, before answering after a not so subtle poke from the very woman his mind was dwelling on. He was doing that a lot lately, simply staring into space, thinking about the feel of his hands on the small of her back as they walked togther.

"Yeah, I think that would be best." The older doctor looked at him knowingly, having been around on this world long enough to recognize a lustful daydream when she saw one. She admitted to herself that she had been wrong about the pretty woman before her. Once she spoke, Dr. Isles could here the sound of intelligence coming from her mouth. A mouth that the FBI agent walking with her was undoubtedly dreaming about, judging by his vacant expression and the pressure of his hand on her back as he guided her, he was in the middle of a very pleasant daydream. Smiling to herself softly, an indulgence she rarely allowed herself, she walked out of the elevator, having just rode four floors in it without a single word from any of its three occupants.

"I have to warn you, Agent Booth, she isn't in best form right now." she told Booth as they stepped into the patients room, only to discover that there was no one in it, save for a lone male nurse cleaning up the bed tray.

"Where is Ruth Baker?" she asked, the sternness slipping back into her voice.

"Ruth Baker just got transferred."

"To where?" she asked, wondering why she hadn't been alerted to this change.

"It happened just a few hours ago. She slipped into a coma, following liver failure. They decided to move her upstairs." She should have been paged about it. She checked her pager and noticed that the batteries were dead. Great, yet another thing that was going wrong with the day.

"So we can't even talk to her? Don't you have any ideas about what's wrong with her?" Booth was getting irritated. Their only leads on this case were an annoying diagnostician and a comatose woman. They were going nowhere fast.

"I'm not her attending, Dr. Travers is. I can take you up to talk to him now; he should be in his office."

"We should go talk to him." said Brennan, who had been quiet since the girlfriend comment.

"Yeah, I guess we better go figure out why no one knows what's wrong with this woman."

"His office is one floor down."

"Great, take us there." Brennan noticed that Booth was getting into one of his frustrated moods. If he didn't get answers soon, she knew he would start getting even more impatient.

"Come on," she said, surprising him by grabbing his forearm, "Let's go talk to Dr. Travers." She kept her grip on his as Dr. Isles led them down to the office.

"Dr. Travers?" the silver haired doctor said as she knocked on the light wooden door. It opened, revealing a rotund middle aged man with balding hair and a shiny red face.

"You heard about Ruth Baker then?" he said, jumping right into it.

"Yes, Nurse Daniels told us." she answered, gesturing to the two people standing behind her.

"Ah, you must be Special Agent Booth. Is this your partner?"

"Dr. Temperance Brennan." Brennan said, holding out her hand. He shook it firmly, before reaching out for Booth's hand. He gave it rather reluctantly.

"So," Dr. Isles said, turning his attention back to her, "Do you know why Ms. Baker went into a coma?"

"We still aren't any closer than we were before."

"So, she's just going to stay in a coma forever and we won't get to talk to her?" asked Booth, his temper rising. He hadn't gotten enough sleep the previous night, his mind still reeling from an encounter the day before with a certain crippled doctor.

"We've called an expert, one of the best diagnosticians in the country." Dr. Travers answered, making sure to keep his voice even. He dealt with enough short tempered people to know what to do in a situation like this.

"So you're just going to cart her off to some hospital half way across the country? We do need to talk to her, so the faster she wakes up and the closer we are to her, the better."

'Don't worry about that, by some stroke of luck, he's already in D.C. Actually, he was supposed to meet me here about five minutes ago." Brennan was just about to cut in when they heard a loud rapping on the door, the kind that Booth suspected was only made by a cane tapping roughly on a wooden door.

"Ah, Dr. House, glad to see you made it okay." Dr. Travers said as he opened the door, revealing the person that Booth had expected, but certainly not hoped, to see. House looked around the room as a grin spread across his unshaven face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but there was a girl in the cafeteria who insisted on sharing her muffin with me. Ah, Special Agent Booth. Glad to see you again. And who is this?" he asked, leering at Brennan with a look that made Booth's blood boil. "I didn't know you were allowed to bring your hot girlfriend along to your interrogations."

"I'm not his girlfriend." Brennan said once again, wondering why so many people seemed to mistake her for his sexual partner. "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan, his partner."

"Oh my god. Temperance Brennan? God, I knew you looked familiar. I've read most of your books, and I read your article in Science Weekly last month. It was incredibly well written." he told her seriously, without an ounce of sarcasm, surprising Booth with his sincerity. Unfortunately, this did nothing to calm his attitude towards him, which now had a new element to hit, jealously.

"Thank you." she said, looking down as she blushed. "I would expect an article of such a nature to be of use to a medical doctor such as yourself. I'm touched by your admiration though."

"Oh come on Bones, it's just a compliment, I give them to you all the time. Anyone could tell you that you're smart." Booth said, noticing the look on her face. The fleeting look of attraction he sometimes noticed when she looked at him when they were alone. A look that he definitely did not want her directing towards such a self serving ass.

"Oooh, FBI agent's getting all jealous that I'm up on his turf. If you want a piece of Dr. Brennan, come get it. Shouldn't be too hard, I've noticed the googly eyes you've been shooting at each other." he said with a smirk. "Besides, I'm not interesting in her; I've got other ladies in mind."

"Like who, Dr. Cuddy?" Booth shot back. The man was starting to get on his nerves again, and they had only been in the same room for a few minutes.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Lisa Cuddy is most definitely on my radar."

"Too bad you're not on hers." Booth taunted.

"Actually, Sweets mentioned something about mutual attraction, caring and love between Drs. House and Cuddy during the interrogation yesterday." Brennan cut in. House stiffened. Who was this Sweets, and how did he figure out the unique relationship between him and the Dean of Medicine? Although mutual attraction, caring and love wouldn't be the way he would have put it. Mutual attraction, hate, and lust was more like it.

"So, you two were the ones behind the one way glass yesterday?" he said, hoping to avoid the subject. Booth wasn't biting the bait though.

"So, you and Cuddy have some history together? Maybe a drunken one night stand involving her getting you confused with her boyfriend?" House snorted. If Booth wanted to get into the history between him and Cuddy, they would be here for hours.

"And what about you and Dr. Brennan? I can see the sparks flying up into the air right now."

"Um, if I may interrupt," Dr. Travers cut in. The three up them shut up, remembering the two other doctors in the room, "Perhaps Dr. House could get a look at the patient now."

"Yeah. But don't worry you two; we'll be having his discussion later." Booth rolled his eyes. It was going to be a very interesting week ahead of him.


	14. Chapter 14

"Fantastic, I get to see the inside of the coma room. The coma room is one of my favourite places in the hospital, you know." House said as he limped beside Booth.

"It's where I like to eat my lunch. Comatose people make very, very pleasant lunch companions." He smiled at Booth like he was a confused first grader. "Companion is another word for person that you should have sex with. Wait, that's not right. A _partner _is someone you should have sex with. Did I get you confused? I didn't mean to. Sometimes I forget who I'm talking to. Not everyone is as smart as me, you know." He smiled even wider; it was so out of place on him that he looked like a completely different person. An evil, psychotic, maniacal person.

"I often find that I have the same problem Dr. House." Brennan commented from the other side of her partner. House chuckled, realizing that she was being entirely serious.

"Your _partner_ doesn't seem to have a grasp on sarcasm, Agent Booth." Booth gritted his teeth. He just needed to last until House cured the stupid suspect, and then he could get back into his element.

"Booth often comments on my lack of ability to distinguish whether people are being serious or not, but I don't see it to be too much of a hindrance."

"You're right; being able to tell if people are being sarcastic is completely useless." House said sarcastically, as Booth shot him a death glare.

"Uh, Dr. House?" Dr. Travers called from a few feet behind them, "The coma room is down here."

"Right." He muttered, realizing that their conversation had carried them beyond the place where the other two doctors had turned off. He limped back into a mint green hallway, following Dr. Travers into the coma room.

"This is Ruth Baker." Dr. Isles said, addressing House for the first time. "I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself, I'm Dr. Rita Isles, Dr. Travers's second in command." She didn't bother offering her hand, she knew House by reputation.

"Yeah, fantastic. How long has the patient been in a coma?"

"About four hours." Dr. Travers answered, glancing at a chart. House went up to Baker and examined her.

"Have you run all of the standard tests, ect.? he asked, glaring at the two doctors.

"Yes, they were run when she got here. Tox screen, drug tests, all came out clean."

"Have you tested her for Hepatitis B?"

"She came back positive. We put her on the meds, but there hasn't been any improvement." Dr. Isles answered, getting a glare from Travers.

"Why didn't you tell me that when we first gave me the case? It might have been useful, you know." Brilliant, he was dealing with two idiots. Although he already knew why one was being so unhelpful…

"We didn't think it would be relevant, given that she hasn't improved. Her sickness must be unrelated."

"Yeah, right. I forgot, even if your liver is compromised, all illnesses still have the same effect on you. What kind of hospital are you running here?" House almost yelled, his anger getting the best of him. But really, why on earth wouldn't they think to include the patient's hepatitis B in the history?

"We asked her how long she had had it; apparently she knew that she was infected for at least four months."

"So, if she was diagnosed before she was brought here, why wasn't it in the history? You can't tell me that in D.C. her GPs wouldn't give you information that would help her case."

"Her GP, Dr. Frank Polzer, actually disappeared last month. We haven't been able to track him or his medical records down, so we didn't have any information on her."

"Still doesn't explain why hepatitis isn't on the file."

"Look, Dr. House, can you cut down on the arguing and fix the damn patient already? We need to question her as soon as possible." Booth interrupted, getting more frustrated by the minute. Brennan put her hand on his arm, which seemed to calm him down.

"You're completely right; I should have just taken out my magic fairy patient curing powder and sprinkled it on her belly-button. Sorry about that." he retorted, equally pissed off. The patient's case was simple; he had seen one like it before, although not under the circumstances. He needed to move quickly, or everything would be lost.

"Did you test the patient for Hepatitis D?" he asked, smirking at the two bewildered doctors.

"No, she had already come out positive for hepatitis B-" Dr. Travers started before House cut him off.

"Jesus Christ, what kind of people does this hospital hire? Stoners who slept their way through med school? Hepatitis D can only infect someone if they already have Hepatitis B. So, there would be no reason not to test for it after finding her positive. Which leads me to believe that there's been some sabotage around this case. Agent Booth would you please lock the door for me?" he asked a bewildered Booth, who nevertheless complied. "Now, Dr. Travers, I've had my PI do some background checks on you." House started.

"You had your PI do background checks on someone you were going to work with? What, you were afraid he was indebted to some guy whose brother you accidentally offed?" Booth cut in, standing by the doorway as Dr. Travers tried to leave discretely.

"I do background checks on everyone I work with. And funny you should mention Dr. Travers being indebt to someone, because it turns out a Dr. Henry Sean, the head of a medical research company, bailed him out of jail after a drug trafficking charge. Isn't that right, Dr. Travers?"

"Yeah, he bailed me out, what does that prove?" Travers answered, noticeably tense. Dr. Isles kept her mouth shut tight, but she looked alarmed at he colleague's response.

"Well, it turns out that Henry Sean contracted Oliver Desmond's company to replace the wiring in his MRI machines. Which normally, would mean nothing, but a few months after the work was completed, Henry Sean filed a lawsuit against Desmond's company, claiming that the wiring was faulty and has caused his research company millions in damages. Desmond's lawyers got him off the charge, but not before a Gary Clark filed his own suit against Sean's research company, claiming that he had killed his sister, a participant in one of Sean's drug trials. She had been killed in an accident in one of the newly rewired MRI machines. Unlike Sean's lawsuit against Desmond, Clark's lawsuit went through, costing his company still more." He looked around the room, noting Booth's incredulous look.

"How did your PI dig all this up?" he asked angrily, "And why didn't you inform the FBI about all the stuff he found out?"

"Well, I figured that I would be seeing you today, knowing that the patient I was asked to diagnose is a key player in this little scandal. You see, Ruth Baker was sleeping with Oliver Desmond. Why, I don't really know, I never found him much of a looker, but she was screwing the poor bastard. They were out to dinner, the last night of his life. And I think that you might be able to enlighten us about what happened that night, Dr. Travers." House looked at the petrified doctor.

"Look, Buddy, either you answer our questions now, or you can answer them in a jail cell."

"Booth, you can't send him to jail, he hasn't-"

"Yes, I can Bones." Booth told Brennan, before she could spill anything else.

"Okay, look, Sean contacted me about a job he needed me to do. He said he'd call off all the debt I owed him."

"Three hundred and twenty-four thousand dollars." House announced proudly, showing off his PI's skills.

"Yeah, he said he'd call it all off if I'd do two things for him. First, I would go down to The Sea Flyer, the restaurant where Desmond and his girlfriend were enjoying dinner, and inject them both with hepatitis D samples provided by Henry's lab."

"And then," House interrupted, extremely please with himself, "Three weeks later, you slipped a few milligrams of tetrodotoxin into Oliver Desmond's food while they were dining at the same restaurant."

"Fugu poison." Brennan said, impressed. "We found trace amounts of it in Oliver Desmond, but not nearly enough to be fatal."

"That's because a normal person's liver isn't out of whack. Desmond had hepatitis; his body wouldn't have been able to process it properly. Plus, if it had been injected, it would have been even more effective."

"How did you know that? Your PI can't be that good." Booth cut in.

"It wasn't my PI that figured it out; it was my own prodigious skill. I had a case like this before, except without all the careful planning. The woman slept with a local man, contracted hepatitis, then ate at Hoyo Japan, a restaurant licensed to serve fugu, with a different man. The chef had almost completely cleaned the fish of the toxin, but not enough. The man who ate with her came out unscathed, but because of her compromised liver, she sustained heavier damage."

"So what's wrong with Ruth Baker then?" Dr. Isles finally cut in, the question having been on the tip of her tongue for some time.

"Well, Ms. Baker was doing fine with her hepatitis until someone," he glared at Dr. Travers, "Was paid to silence her, because Oliver Desmond had been found dead. Not really a very effective hiding place for a body, a hotel bathtub. But I guess you panicked and fled. Lucas also discovered that you were staying in our hotel room four days before Dr. Cuddy and me, before checking out in a hurry."

"Wait, Lucas is your PI? I used to work with him; I didn't know he went into private investigations. No wonder you're getting so much information" Booth mused.

"Business is booming, apparently. Anyway, when Ruth Baker was brought into the hospital because her condition had worsened, Dr. Travers took the opportunity to finish her off. So he injected her with more tetrodotoxin, causing her to slip into a coma. So, if you want to save her, I suggest you get her into treatment for fugu poisoning, Dr. Isles. I think that you're still on the side of justice."

"I'll get right on it." She said, as Booth let her out of the room.

"As for you, Agent Booth, I think you need to bring in Dr. Henry Sean for questioning. As for me, I think I might just go back to my hotel room to impress a certain Dean of Medicine with my incredible intelligence. Maybe I'll get some tonight." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively as he pushed past Booth.

"I'll give you Luca's number; he might have a bit more information for you. And don't worry, I won't tell your big bad FBI bosses that your entire case was solved by a PI and a medical doctor. You need to keep your reputation for the ladies, after all." He winked at Brennan, who looked rather taken aback, before leaving the coma room.

"Damn it." Booth muttered. Bested by an asshole diagnostician. He was going to have to do his own investigations, of course, but it was humiliating how the whole case was blown open because of House's trust problems.

"It's okay, Booth." Brennan said, laying her hand on his arm again. "It's not your fault that you haven't had time to investigate Oliver Desmond's business dealings yet. In all fairness, you've been doing an excellent job on this case, Dr. House just happened to find all the clues before you."

"Yeah, well, doesn't really make me feel much better. How did he just piece all of that together like that?"

"Well, I assume because he has a superior intellect. Beyond that, you'll have to ask Sweets. I obviously don't know much about the human mind."

"Yeah, I expect Sweets is going to want to have a nice long chat with me after he hears about his one. He's probably going to think I'm going to lapse into a depression because of my feelings of incompetence." He snorted. He really did not look forward to talking to Sweets about this one.

"I still need to go back to the lab to confirm cause of death." Brennan said.

"Well, what about we drive back there and then after, we can get some pie. After we deal with this guy over here, of course. You're going to have some really nice charges, buddy." He finished, looking over at Dr. Travers. "You better have a really good lawyer."


	15. Chapter 15

"So I take it it went well with the patient?" Cuddy said to House's smiling face as he walked in to their new hotel room. Two bedrooms and a kitchenette, the hotel apologizing profusely after they had found their old room to be a crime scene. Although Cuddy was grateful for the gesture, she had been secretly disappointed at having her own bed again; to say that waking up in House's arms was pleasant would be an understatement. Her bed was oddly cold that night, although she just told herself it was because the temperature had dropped.

"Oh, it went better than well." he told her proudly, wearing an incredibly self satisfied grin. A grin that made Cuddy want to fling her arms around him.

"Let me guess, the nurse was so impressed with your diagnostic skills that she did you in the supply closet on the way out?" she said sarcastically, wanting to get whatever boasting he was about to do out of the way.

"Well, close. Okay, not close at all, but I did something way better than the nurse."

"Oh really, like who?" she retorted, wondering where he was going with this. He usually gloated after solving a particularly hard case, but he was beyond ecstatic.

"Not who, Cuddy, what. I actually accomplished something in my life beyond my job description. I solved the whole damn case, with the help of my trusty PI of course."

"Do you mean the patient's case? Because you solve cases all the time, its kind of what I pay you for."

"Really? Because I thought you just paid me to sit on my ass and stare at yours."

"Just finish your story House."

"I solved the case, as in the murder case. I'm a regular FBI guy now. I really should look into the field, see if it pays more than the gig I have right now."

"Yeah, right. If I paid you any more, I'd have to hire two people or the Board would be on my ass. How the hell did you solve the murder case?" She knew House was good, but not _that _good.

"Well, let's just say I took some precautionary measures before taking the case and they paid off extremely well."

"I'm going to need a bit more information than that." She could tell that he was itching to tell her everything, but wanted to toy with her for a bit first.

"Well, I got Lucas to do some background checks on the doctors I was going to be working with-"

"Do you do that with everyone?" she cut in.

"No, just people who might potentially be able to kill me. Anyway, this guy, Dr. Travers…" He recounted the story to Cuddy, who tried her best to hide that he had impressed her. She knew he liked solving puzzles, but she didn't know that he would pursue something so far.

"Why did you bother doing all that? It must have taken Lucas hours to get everything. Is it because you wanted to show up Special Agent Booth?" She wouldn't push it past him to solve the case just to shove it in the handsome FBI agent's face. He only put an effort into something if it benefitted him in some twisted way.

"Actually, yeah. When did you get so good at reading my mind? Can you tell what I'm thinking right now?"

"Honestly, House, I really don't want to know." Probably something involving black leather and manacles. And her.

"You assume that it's something dirty involving you. Which it is, but the though still hurts. Don't flatter yourself; I don't fantasize about you _all_ the time. Sometimes I'll fantasize about that nurse down in pediatrics." She rolled her eyes. Not that it didn't feel slightly good, knowing that he thought about her in that way, but thinking about him and a relationship just made her head hurt.

"Your stupid assistant's been calling me all day, calls which I've ignored of course, but they're taking up room in my inbox. Says she couldn't get a hold of you on your phone. You haven't run up your monthly bill with calls to the sex hotline, have you? Because you know if you ever need sex, I'm here."

"No," Cuddy said, rolling her eyes again. The man was impossible. "I haven't seen my phone since yesterday."

"So you think you lost it when we got interrogated?"

"Well, I know I had it when we left the taxi, so I must have."

"And I'm guessing that you want to go back there to look for it. Well, I shouldn't pass up an opportunity to rub it in Agent Booth's face. And his partner, Dr. Brennan, was pretty hot. Maybe I can get her number." He winked at her, causing her to roll her eyes for the third time.

"Well I don't want to have to replace my phone, it was pretty expensive."

"Yeah, and your model of Blackberry probably isn't being made anymore, they go through models so fast. You wanna go back today?"

"Yeah, that would be best. But you'll have to call the cab."

"Might as well put it on the company tab." House said, picking up the room line.


	16. Chapter 16

"The contusions and abrasions on the body are consistent with being dragged across the floor and being shoved into the bathtub. All bruising occurred post mortem, with the exception of two puncture wounds, both from hypodermic needles." Brennan said to the squints as she examined the body. Angela had magically returned it to its near original state, though she wasn't telling anyone how.

"So this House guy was right?" Angela asked.

"Yes, Dr. House was correct in his guesses of both cause of death and the motive behind it. Booth finished the investigation just a few hours ago. Dr. Henry Sean was very cooperative when Booth went to arrest him."

"So, not much to do here except clean up, I guess. Is Dr. House coming back here?"

"Why, did you want to meet him? I can tell you he wasn't a very pleasant person, although he's highly intelligent."

"Well, I heard that he's very good looking." Hodgins rolled his eyes. Her libido was way off whack since she started the abstinence thing.

"He's certainly attractive, although considerably older than both you and I." Brennan told her.

"So he's no Booth is what you're saying."

"I don't see what possible connection you could have between Dr. House and Booth. Their bone structures are completely different." Brennan said. Angela just smiled. Some things Brennan was very good at figuring out, others, she remained completely oblivious.

***********

Booth was just about to walk into the Jeffersonian, when he crashed into a couple he hadn't noticed while looking at the file he was carrying.

"Hey! Don't you kids look out for cripples? Oh, it's Special Agent Booth. You here to finally ask Temperance Brennan on a date?" Of course, the man with the cane he had crashed into was House, with Cuddy.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Booth asked, ignoring the other man's question.

"Ah, not it the mood to play games are we? Still a little sad that I figured out the case long before you did? Like I said, I'm not telling anyone, but you strike me as the type of person who would tell his superiors everything." Booth scowled at him.

"Sorry for crashing into you." he muttered. "Wasn't looking where I was going."

"Ignore him, Agent Booth. He's just in a bad mood because he's an ass. I came here to see if I could find my cell phone, I think I left it here after you interrogated us." Cuddy said before either of the two men could come to blows. Sometimes guys could be such animals.

"Well, I can take you to the front office to see if you left it there, but I have to go to the lab to talk to Bones first."

"Who?" Cuddy asked.

"His partner, Dr. Brennan. I think he calls her Bones because she works with bones. Not very creative, if you ask me."

"And who asked you?" Booth shot at him before he could help himself. The insufferable doctor was getting on his nerves, again.

"Well, no one actually, but I find it entertaining to butt in where I don't belong. Speaking of butts, your partner happens to have a very fine one. I don't see why you haven't taken advantage of it yet."

"House!" Cuddy muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Bones and I are just partners." Booth said through gritted teeth. The last thing he needed was for House to get him to admit his feeling for Brennan.

"Well, I can help you with that. It's like way totally obvious that you like her." House finished in a valley girl tone. Booth bit back the retort he had about him and Cuddy; somehow he couldn't allow himself to stoop that low, not yet.

"What are you going to do, shove us into a closet together?" Booth said as they walked through the front entrance, towards the lab.

"No," House said with a smile, as they rounded a corner, "But we can play truth or dare."


	17. Chapter 17

'Truth or dare?" Booth said incredulously, "You've got to be kidding me. Isn't that for kids in junior high?"

"Well, House is really in junior high himself." Cuddy explained. Where exactly was House going with this truth or dare thing anyway?

"Excuse me, Cuddy, but I need to have a man to man with Agent Booth. If you would stay there while we walk away from you." Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"Fine." she grumbled, hoping that only good things could come of this. Which, really, was what would happen if she played truth or dare with House. Plenty of excuses to kiss him without any questions about intentions.

"Look," House started off in a low voice, a good ten feet from where Cuddy was standing, staring determinedly at the ceiling, "You are obviously infatuated with Dr. Brennan, and honestly, who could blame you-"

"I am not-" Booth cut in.

"Yes you are." House said, interrupting Booth's oft spoken explanation about his feelings for Brennan. "So I suggest that you play along with my friendly suggestion of a game of truth or dare with the ladies, and you might just get a couple choice truths or dares shot down your way."

"And what about you and Dr. Cuddy?" House raised his eyebrows at that. Damn, he thought the man would be distracted by the prospect of getting up close and personal with his partner. Obviously the man was more intelligent than he seemed.

"What about me and Cuddles? I obviously want to get in her pants, so I don't see what the-"

"You're in love with her, admit it. This is just as much of an opportunity to show her what you want as a chance to screw with me. But I'm a good guy; I'll let you have your chance with your hot boss."

"You think she's hot too? Good, I was starting to worry it was only me that saw it; she hasn't gone on more than one date with a man since god knows when. Though that might just be because I scare them all off." House said, ignoring the FBI agent's first statement.

"What do you do, show up to the restaurants she's at and make sexual innuendoes?" House chucked at how close to the truth Booth was.

"Actually yes. It seems to work rather well." Booth laughed at that. The man was so deep in denial; it was amazing he could still breathe.

"You're completely in love with the woman. No one would do that just because they felt like it."

"Love is just the release of chemicals in the brain." House didn't actually believe that, but he wanted to. There was no way he would ever forgive himself if he fell in love with Lisa Cuddy. Though some part of his mind knew he already had, a long time ago.

"Yeah, well you seem to be releasing a lot of chemicals around her." Booth retorted.

"Are we going to do this or not?" House asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from that area, for the time being. There was no shame in telling the truth during a game of truth or dare, it was an unwritten rule.

"Oh yeah, we're doing it. But I know a few people who would want to join in." Sweets would be _way _too much fun to play with. House would surely meet his match in the young psychologist

"I don't want the whole damn building joining in." House pictured just the four of them playing, maybe a couple smouldering kisses with Dr. Brennan, just enough to make the other two burning with jealousy.

"Just Angela, Hodgins, and Sweets. That's only three extra people." Booth smiled to himself. This truth or dare thing was starting to sound like a really good idea.

"Who's this Sweets guy everyone keeps talking about? The FBI shrink?"

"Actually, Sweets is a shrink. He's young, brilliant, and entirely too naïve for his own good."

"I don't want a damn psychologist playing." House shuddered at the idea of his every move being picked apart by a self righteous kid just out of college.

"If Sweets can't play, we're not playing." Booth said, crossing his arms.

"Fine." House muttered, knowing this was his only chance with Cuddy. His only chance that didn't require effort and self sacrifice on his part, that is.

"Well, get Dr. Cuddy and let's get everyone." Booth smiled even wider. This was going to be fun.

"Hey Partypants! You coming?" House called. Cuddy walked over to him, eying the pair suspiciously. Booth was wearing a grin that most definitely wasn't there before. And House, he looked positively gleeful. As if Christmas had come a year sooner. Knowing that that maniacal grin on his face meant no good, she followed the pair further into the building, wondering what House had in store for them.


	18. Chapter 18

Brennan was in the lab, cleaning up with Hodgins and Angela when she spotted Booth, House, and Cuddy coming towards them, Booth wearing a large smile that she rarely saw on his face in the workplace.

"That's them, Dr. House and Dr. Cuddy." Hodgins said gravely, nodding over to the three people walking across the lab.

"What are they doing here? You didn't actually get Dr. House to come meet us, did you?" asked Angela.

"No." Brennan said, "I don't know what Booth is doing with them. I can only assume it' something to do with the case."

"Well Booth sure looks happy." Angela commented, looking over at the trio that had reached the cabinets where they were cleaning.

"You guys up for a game?" Booth asked, grinning at Brennan.

"What kind of game?" Brennan asked him, more than a little confused. "I assumed you were over here to talk about the case."

"Well, the case is all wrapped up, and I thought that we should play a little-"

"I should have known you would try to steal my idea. _I _thought that a game of truth or dare would be just the thing you ladies needed to relax." Cuddy stifled a snort. There was no possible way to play any kind of relaxing game with House. Angela just smiled. If she got to play, Booth and Brennan would be at her complete mercy, and she would get a chance at some action, without any strings.

"You two are invited." Booth told Angela and Hodgins. "But we have to play with Sweets." Hodgins groaned inwardly. Sweets would surely grill him about Angela until he broke in front of everyone.

"We _have _to play with Sweets? Couldn't we just have two month old puppy play with us instead?"

"Yup, Booth here said that the only way we could play is if Dr. Sweets could play." House said, rolling his eyes. If it were up to him, the game would be played by a party of four, not seven, but three people he had never met before would be fun to toy with.

"You want Sweets to play?" Hodgins asked Booth, "I thought he had just overheard you in the hallways and thought it would be a good exercise in self discovery." House looked at the man closer.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked Hodgins, looking more closely at his face.

"Yeah, came into the clinic at Princeton-Plainsboro a few months ago, I heard you and Dr. Cuddy over there arguing about your relationship. You told me to stop getting all up in your space." Cuddy blushed. It had been a particularly bad argument, but it had taken place in her office. If some random guy had heard them yelling, imagine what the staff must have thought.

"Yeah, well I don't like it when people get 'all up in my space'." House retorted, skirting casually around the underlying issue. Not that he cared who heard him and Cuddy arguing, but he hadn't intended on getting that loud. But he was past that now, last night he had decided to give up ignoring his feelings. Well, some of his feelings. The ones most often associated with the feelings in his groin whenever he saw down his boss's shirt.

"Where is Sweets?" Brennan asked. Booth had expected her to object to the game, claiming it was too childish, but she hadn't said anything.

"What, you're not going to object to playing?" House asked her, having already figured out her personality. "I thought you would have needed some persuading, like the persuasion I had to give Cuddy. Though I would rather not repeat that on anyone but her." Angela raised her eyebrows. This guy already seemed like a real handful, Hodgins had not been lying when he said House didn't seem like a people person.

"I've played truth or dare in the past; I've found it an excellent way to test my own boundaries." Brennan answered, choosing to ignore the last part of House's statement.

"Well, I called Sweets already, he's on his way." Booth said, before House could make a crude statement. "We're going to play on the lab floor."

"Hey, cripple here, I can't sit on the floor? Don't you have seven chairs we can sit on?" House said as he pointed at his leg. Angela looked down at his cane. If possible, it made him even sexier.

"We have enough chairs." Brennan said. "I can set them up if you'd like."

"Sweet." House said, looking over at Cuddy, who still, to House's pleasure, had a hint of a blush on her face. This was going to be way too much fun. "When is Sweets getting here?"

"Looks like he just got here." said Booth, gesturing over to the young man walking into the lab.

"Damn, you weren't kidding when you said he was young. When did he graduate, last week?"

"Dr. Sweets is a very intelligent young man, even if he wastes his gift on psychology." Brennan said, voicing her distaste of the field.

"Looks like he might be a bit annoying." commented House, looking at Sweets as he approached the group.

"A bit annoying doesn't even cut it." Hodgins said dryly as Sweets came up to them.

"I came as soon as I could. I must say, Booth, I'm surprised you would want to take part in such an activity, I was under the impression that you are rather reluctant to part with the truth." He smiled at all of them.

"It wasn't FBI guy's idea, it was mine." House said proudly.

"Dr. House. I must say I'm pleased to finally meet you." Sweets said as he stuck out his hand, knowing that House would pretend not to notice it.

"What am I, some sort of psychologist's ideal patient? I refuse to be psycho-analyzed." House said, ignoring the young man's hand, as Sweets knew he would.

"Well, since you seem to be so eager to play a game of truth or dare with your boss, I can only suspect that you have ulterior motives."

"What other motives could I have other than pissing off Agent Booth over here and getting a chance to make out with the Dean of Medicine.?" Sweets noticed Cuddy standing beside House awkwardly, the ghost of a blush on her face.

"Dr. Lance Sweets." he said, knowing that she would take his offered hand.

"Dr. Lisa Cuddy." she said, shaking his hand firmly.

"Right, I forgot to introduce everyone." Booth mentally slapped himself. He was too focused on the prize to think about getting everything started right. Is that what he thought of his partner, a prize? He knew that she wasn't something to be won, but a unique person that he could possibly come out of this being more than friends with, if everyone played their cards right. Assuming, of course, that she felt the same way about him. There was a slight chance that she didn't notice the bolts of lightning that shot between them every time their bodies came in contact, if even for a moment.

"This is Dr. Jack Hodgins, and Angela Montenegro." Booth said, looking towards Hodgins and Angela.

"Do I need to ask which one is which?" House said sarcastically.

"So, do you want to get started?" asked Sweets, trying to stop an argument that would surely waste precious time. He was incredibly excited at the prospect of being able to ask everyone questions with the expectation that they had to tell the truth, though he knew almost everyone there was skilled at telling only half of it. And he relished the opportunity to get a closer look at Dr. House, though he of course knew that the doctor would be resistant. Plus, when Booth and Brennan inevitably got dared to kiss, he would have some great evidence to present them with at their next session. They would definitely not be able to ignore the issue if the game went well.

"Of course." House said, limping over to the ring of chairs Brennan had set up. Booth sat down between House and Brennan, with Angela and Hodgins next to House, Cuddy beside Hodgins, facing House, and Sweets between Cuddy and Brennan.

"So, who's starting off?" Booth asked.

"I will." said House, looking at Booth. "Booth, Truth or Dare?"


	19. Chapter 19

"Truth." said Booth, daring House to challenge him. He knew the doctor had expected him to pick dare, he gave off the tough guy vibe. But tough guys had feelings too. Hopefully House wouldn't have any good truths for him.

"Fine, if you want it to be like that." House smiled at him, an evil, arrogant smile, and Booth suddenly wished he had picked dare. What cruel question had he come up with for him? "Have you or have you not entertained fantasies involving you and Dr. Brennan engaged in sexual activities?" House asked Booth in a mocking voice, grinning at him, proud of the effect his question had on the other man. Booth was blushing furiously, obviously struggling with the right way to answer the question. Sweets smiled at Booth from his position next to Brennan, she looked calm and unaffected, as if she only expected Booth the have sexual fantasies about her.

"I have." Booth said through clenched teeth, staring determinedly at the floor. Angela let out a poorly stifled giggle, but Booth didn't notice, he was too focused on the blood pounding through his head. He should have known that House would ask him a tough question regarding his partner, but he didn't think he would go for the throat so soon. At least he hadn't asked him if he was in love with her, but that would surely come later, if not from House then from Sweets, who had been trying to get them to admit their feelings for each other for some time now. Besides, he would have sounded foolish if he had lied to them, it was expected that you tell the truth no matter what in this game. And it wasn't as if his answer was unusual, any guy in his position would have said the same.

"Well, pick your next victim Booth. And no, you can't pick the person who dared you. So you'll have to wait until next time to ask me an equally awkward question."

"Dr. Cuddy. Truth or Dare?" Booth asked, recovering quickly from the embarrassing situation. He hazarded a glance at his partner, she smiled at him, just a little more knowingly than she had before he answered House's question, but not shyly or awkwardly.

"Truth." Cuddy wasn't quite ready to be dared, although telling the truth before she was really warmed up would be hard. A shot of whiskey would be nice right now. Booth thought about the question. He had to ask her something about House, something that would piss him off, although he would of course be expecting it after his question. He decided to bring House's medicine back on him, although he knew it would only serve to boost his ego. But maybe she would do something that would embarrass him. She looked like the kind of person who could dish back whatever shit he served to her.

"Have you had any sexual fantasies with House?" Brilliant, he asked her that, after knowing what a hassle it was to answer. The answer was right up at the front of her mind, itching to be let off the tip of her tongue.

"Yes." she said, decidedly defiant and glaring at Booth, challenging him to comment on her answer.

"Nothing like the real thing though, eh Cuddy?" She looked up at House, the smallest of smiles playing on her lips. No, there was nothing like the real thing, but she hadn't had sex with him in over twenty years. She was sure he still remembered it; it wasn't as if he could forget finally having sex with his girlfriend, his first real girlfriend, and on a desk no less. And she was sure that he remembered the next day, her breaking up with him, him leaving the next week, them never speaking after that, until they met by chance nine years later at a medical conference. She remembered the look on his face when he saw her, a successful endocrinologist with a promising career ahead of her, and him, just as sexy as ever, with three firings under his belt already. He looked at her that night the same way he looked at her every night, with lust and yearning for something he had lost long ago but could still remember the taste of. He was looking at her now, a self satisfied smirk on his face, the knowledge of what he had already suspected having been confirmed. Well, who wouldn't have fantasies about him? He was undeniably attractive, and his jerk personality was a turn on for her, even if it made her job that much more difficult. Even now she wished that he would just tell her what he wanted, instead of playing the games that kept her at arms length. They both knew what they wanted, why couldn't they just have it? But she knew it would never be that easy with House, everything was a puzzle to him, a game, something to be manipulated and twisted until it made sense. No, nothing was like the real thing, and it was unlikely that anything ever would be. But she could have her fun now, and wonder about him later; when she sat in the bed she wished she could share with him.

"Dr. Sweets. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Booth chuckled inside his head. Never thought Sweets would be a dare kind of guy. He wondered what Cuddy would come up with for him, but she already had a dare up her sleeve.

"I dare you to lick Angela's nose."

"Fine." Sweets walked over to Angela, whose eyes were wide and smiling, and licked from the tip of her nose to where it met her forehead with the tip of his tongue, completely unflinchingly. He then sat back down, looking at Hodgins with a challenging smile. Hodgins scowled. Sweets did say he had a thing for Angela…

"Dr. Brennan. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Brennan said immediately. She always picked dare, there was just something about putting control of what you were doing into someone else's hands that thrilled her, as well as scared her, but it comforted her to know it was in a safe setting. Picking truth always brought up questions that she didn't want to get into, and she knew that with Sweets in the game, she would get some choice questions about Booth thrown in her direction that she didn't want to answer, not now, maybe not ever. And you couldn't lie during truth or dare.

Sweets looked at her, wondering whether he should toy with the two of them, or go right for the throat. Toying would be more fun, but he couldn't wait to see them kiss, from a professional standpoint of course. But then again, there was plenty of time to shoot the big guns, and someone would surely pull the kiss her partner trigger if he didn't.

"I dare you to kiss," Booth could almost feel her lips on his, the memory of their kiss under the mistletoe firing his imagination. Brennan could hear the blood rushing through her head, she didn't really feel this way about Booth, did she? "Dr. House." Sweets finished with a smile, seeing Booth's expression changing from bewilderment to anger. No, he wouldn't want her to kiss someone like that, he was too protective of her, he knew she deserved to kiss someone better, like him. And Sweets, daring her to kiss a man that was definitely more than ten years older than her? What was he thinking? Booth knew he was just playing with him, watching his reactions, planning his next moves. He sucked in his breath and waited for the inevitable.

"Now, kisses have to be at least fifteen seconds long," Shit, Booth thought as Sweets continued, "And it has to be a real kiss, you can't just stand there with your lips pressed together. We're all adults now, we know how to kiss properly."

"And who said you could come up with the guidelines?" House chuckled; this guy was almost too easy. And Sweets was playing his game, he didn't expect the young psychologist to get them to kiss right away, but this was even better. A chance to make both Booth and Cuddy jealous, and he got to kiss a hot girl, too.

"No one, but I thought we should have some sort of guidelines laid out." Sweets waited for Brennan to make her move. She turned towards House and placed her lips on his, slightly parted, hesitant, but still ready. He immediately responded, kissing her softly yet not too gently, and she kissed him back the same way. It might have just been Booth's jealous paranoia, but he almost thought he saw a tongue slip out after the required fifteen seconds had been up and they separated.

Cuddy sat in her chair, trying to remain calm, while her brain screamed at her to get over there and get her man back. But House wasn't her man, he was a bachelor, he could kiss whoever he wanted. Besides, it was just a game of truth or dare, and she would get her turn sooner or later. There was still a part of her, though, that was filled with jealousy at the sight of him kissing another woman so gently and sweetly. He hadn't shoved his tongue down her throat (although Cuddy did think she saw someone's tongue mixed in with the two pairs of lips), and he hadn't devoured her mouth in a passionate frenzy, like the night he finally kissed her after she lost Joy. But she wanted the lips he had so tenderly kissed to have been hers. And she was sure that Booth felt the same way about Brennan, judging by the look on his face. The man was not happy.


	20. Chapter 20

Three kisses (House/Angela, Brennan/Hodgins, Sweets/Cuddy), two ass grabbings (both done to Cuddy, one by Sweets, the other by Booth), a three second bra flash by Brennan, three most embarrassing moments, and one VERY awkward moment involving Booth, Angela, House and three body bags, it was Hodgin's turn to dare, and he had already picked out his target. It seemed to be an unspoken rule that no one dared the three established couples to kiss (he and Angela weren't a couple, he had to keep reminding himself), but he wanted to see Brennan and Booth kiss so bad that it was hurting him. He was sure the same thing was on Sweets's mind, Hodgins saw the fleeting look of disappointment when either one of them got dared to do something different. Brennan always chose dare, he had noticed, so she would be the optimal choice. No more playing around, he needed to see this.

"Dr. Brennan. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare." Ah, perfect. Hodgins noticed Booth trying to wipe a hopeful look off of his face, which didn't work as well as Booth thought. Sweets was looking at him knowingly, there must have been something in his expression that told the psychologist that he had decided to go in for the kill.

"I dare you to kiss Booth." Booth punched a mental fist into the air. Now he could show his partner how a real man kissed a woman. He hadn't been able to stop himself from imagining himself in both House and Hodgin's places when his partner had been dared to kiss them, but now, fantasy was becoming reality. _Snap out of it_, some part of his mind told him,_ its not like it's a real kiss, it's just a dare, you're not kissing her because she wants you to._ Well, he would make it a real kiss. Screw fifteen seconds. He would kiss her until they both ran out of oxygen.

"Well, you're sitting next to each other, kiss already!" House sounded like whiny teenager. He was a very good kisser, she admitted, better than Hodgins, and she had enjoyed the way his stubble touched her face when he kissed her. She hadn't been kissed like that in a long time, gently, apprehensively, yet strongly. She wondered if Booth's stubble would feel like that on her face. She found that she had been holding her breath since Hodgins had dared her; she let it out and turned towards her partner, heart pounding in her chest, eyes wide and excited. Booth looked at her with a similar expression; it was like two horny teenagers making out on the family couch after a movie for the first time. She moved slowly closer to his face, it was as if time had slowed down for the pair, although everyone else was watching them coming closer, the tension in the air was unbearable, House would have commented on how pathetic it was that everyone in the room was focused on the upcoming kiss if he wasn't so into it himself. Two people, with undeniable chemistry, kissing in front of five others waiting with bated breath. House wondered if his kiss with Cuddy would go something like this. He was sure that they would be the next targets if the kiss between the two partners was as electric as he expected it to be. You could almost see the bolts of electricity flying between the two.

Booth looked into Brennan's eyes as she places her lips on his, he almost breathed a sigh of relief as he finally had the release to all of the emotions that had been brought all the way back up into the surface in the past few days. Her mouth was soft against his, and he kissed her just as soft, and he felt her respond, moving her lips with his in a rhythm that made his body ache for more of her. His mind drifted to a scene where he was kissing the same way, except this time she was lying on his bed, wrapped up in his sheets, his body arched above her. He was pulled back to the present by the increased pressure of her lips on his, she was kissing him harder, with more passion, he was vaguely aware of her running her tongue along the bottom of his lips before he slipped his tongue into her slowly opening mouth, she tasted like he had thought she would, like everything he wanted and thought he needed. Their kiss became more passionate still, his senses were on fire, he wasn't sure if he imagined her hand gripping the back of his head, but he didn't care, the feel of their intricate and intimate dance of lips and mouths and tongues took up his thoughts, she was doing incredible things to him, he had never kissed or been kissed like that in his life.

Brennan couldn't take it anymore, the sensations Booth was causing her to feel all throughout her body were unlike anything she had ever felt like, she wondered if this was what real lust, real passion, real love felt like. Every time some part of his body touched her during their kiss waves of heat pulsed through her, it was like she was burning up, all thoughts were erased as she engaged in the most incredible kiss she had ever had in her life. He was better than House, far better than Hodgins, the way he moved her mouth with hers spoke words he never could have, though she would never know what they were. Her brain was becoming fuzzy, and she realized that it was because she didn't have enough air, reluctantly she broke off from him, regretful that their tongues couldn't be intertwined again, but the kiss was over. It had been well beyond the required fifteen seconds, and although she had been able to sneak a few quick breaths in between kisses, there was no way she could have gone on. She looked Booth in the eyes as they sat inches apart after the most remarkable kiss either of them had ever had. His were sparkling, the ghost of a smile was playing on his moist and slightly swollen lips. She gave him the tiniest of smiles, her professional brain seemed to have abandoned her. Now that was a _real _kiss.

"Fifty-two seconds." House announced to the still room. He heard no reply, apparently everyone was too focused on that explosive kiss. Even Cuddy was in awe. He thought with much satisfaction that she was probably wondering if _he _could kiss her like that.

"I was counting." he said to the still silent room.

"Yeah, so." Booth challenged, finally tearing his gaze from his glowing partner to the annoying man two seats down.

"Well, it was more than three times the required time." House said smugly.

"And?"

"Me and Cuddy could beat that."


	21. Chapter 21

"Yeah, right."

"Well, we could. I know I'm up to it." House winked at Cuddy, who, to her disappointment, blushed a furious shade of red. She refused to be affected by him like that, she refused to wonder if he could kiss her like that, she refused to stare at him for minutes at a time while he was looking the other way. No, no, no, no, no, she would not, could not fall for him, especially when he was being so damn obnoxious. Saying that they could beat fifty-two seconds. He would like to. And that small part of her that forced her eyes to his smiling lips told her that she sure would like to attempt the feat with him.

"Fine. House, Truth or Dare?" Booth wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face, even if that meant he would have to cover it with Cuddy's. Besides, he had to help the man out; he seemed practically desperate to have some sort of romantic interaction with the woman who admitted she fantasized about him.

"Hmmm. What should I pick?" House pretended to be in thought. _Spare me the theatrics and let me dare you to kiss your stupid boss_, Booth thought. "I think I'll pick..." Cuddy knew what was coming. He would ask her, sarcastically of course, to get over to his chair so he could plant an incredibly passionate kiss on her waiting lips. "Truth."

"What? Truth?" Booth asked House, as he looked at Cuddy. He could have sworn that there was smoke coming out of her ears. She looked livid. Luckily House wasn't looking at her; he was looking at Booth, with an innocent look on his face.

"Yes, Truth, as in the option where you ask me a question about myself. You aren't disappointed that I didn't pick dare are you? I'm not chickening out of kissing Cuddy because I don't think we could beat you, if that's what you're wondering. Once the woman starts kissing me, she can't stop." House winked at Cuddy, who miraculously had composed herself and was wearing a vaguely interested expression. Booth wondered if there was any truth to House's statement. Sweets had picked up on some sort of sexual frustration, which could have arisen from a previous relationship.

"What's your history with Cuddy?" Booth asked him, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms.

"My history with Cuddy? You mean everything we've ever said or done since we met over twenty years ago?" House was being deliberately difficult, first with picking Truth, a move that he knew would make both Booth and Cuddy angry with him, and now playing with the question. He could describe their history in a few sentences, but deflecting seemed like a much easier option. Whose stupid idea was it to play truth or dare anyway? Maybe some feelings weren't supposed to be shared with six other people.

"No, I think you know perfectly well what a history is. Or aren't you man enough to tell us about the night she rejected sleeping with you?" Booth was teasing him, he was in a good mood since kissing Brennan, he was still running on high from the emotions she had caused. And he couldn't wait to hear the juicy details about the Dean of Medicine and the Head of Diagnostics at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

"Well, let's see. I met her in the library; I was returning the copy of Dracula that was three months overdue that my room mate had checked out when I saw this incredibly sexy young woman sitting at a desk with about three hundred textbooks around her, dressed in a sweater and jeans that could have been at least four times tighter. We got to talking," _Ha, he counted shooting comments about my ass at me as conversations even then, _Cuddy thought with a smile, "And then I started tutoring her, and well, let's just say the lessons included a little more than the required syllabus. We started dating, we had sex on her desk, she dumped me the next day, I went to do my residency, we met a few times over the next decade, she hired me at her hospital, she and my ex-girlfriend cut out part of my thigh, I've been a pain in her large ass for the last few years. And, I uh, kissed her a few months ago. After she lost the child she was supposed to adopt." House finished with a mumble, trying to tell himself that he needed to tell all of the truth, or the Truth or Dare gods would smite him. Ha. He just wanted to wipe that self satisfied smirk off Cuddy's face when she heard him talking about when they went to college together. He was pleased to see that it worked, she was embarrassed and more than a little upset to have the incident brought up again.

"You kissed her?" Booth was unable to stop himself from asking.

"Yes, I believe I just said that." said House, suddenly pissed off. Why did he want to kiss her again? After all, their last kiss had certainly screwed things up enough. Oh, but this would just be a dare, it would mean nothing at all, him being unable to stop himself from devouring her lips in a passionate frenzy would mean nothing. But maybe, just maybe, now that he actually recognized he wanted to be with her, their dare kiss could be a catalyst for something else later tonight. Oh, right, he had picked truth, to piss her off. Just what kind of strategy he was trying to run he didn't know, but he had counted on the game to get him to loosen up a little, although the game would be a lot better with a couple bottles of scotch.

"Okay, who's my next victim?" he asked, looking around for hands.

"Hmm, no volunteers. Angela, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." she said, figuring she needed a break from all the dares she had gotten.

"Why are you so damn horny right now?" Sweets almost laughed at his question. Only he could have picked up on her overly flirty nature, her sidelong glances at Hodgins, and her incredible responsiveness to any kind of sexual dare.

"I'm abstinent. Sweets says it will help me develop more meaningful relationships." House laughed.

"Right. I don't even want to ask. Pick someone." House leaned back in his chair, happy that Cuddy still seemed a little shaken by his answer to Booth's question. He would get her right where he wanted her tonight, and maybe get more than a little bit lucky.


	22. Chapter 22

**I really hate late updaters. I really do. Unfortunately, I've become one of those horrible people who are forced to make up lame excuses about not updating because they've been stuck for ideas. Rest assured. I will be back. Although not until next week. Stupid unexpected vacations.**

"Dr. Cuddy." Angela said, looking over at the Dean of Medicine.

"Dare." Cuddy answered, not wanting to get into any questions about her relationship with House just yet. Angela thought for a while. She had some very juicy dares up her sleeve, but which one to pick?

"I dare you to wear nothing but a lab coat for the rest of the night." Angela said, giggling at the look of outrage on the older woman's face.

"Is that including or not including undergarments?" House asked, a look of utmost glee on his face. Now _that _was a dare that worked to his advantage.

"Not including undergarments." Angela answered, pointing over to a lab coat sitting on a nearby table. "You can get changed behind that set of drawers over there."

Cuddy tried to think of a reasonable protest, but couldn't come up with one. Fine, if she had to do this, she had to do this. She walked over to the table, grabbed the lab coat, and changed into it without another word.

The wolf whistle that accompanied her arrival back into the circle was expected; she knew that House wouldn't give up an opportunity to ogle her.

"What?" she asked his shocked face. She kept the lab coat carefully wrapped around her naked body, but some choice parts of her anatomy were peeking out. She knew that House was relishing the opportunity to admire her.

"Just thinking about how great it would be if you came to work dressed like that everyday." he answered, sitting back in his chair, utterly content. Cuddy rolled her eyes and tried to sit down in her chair without revealing anything to anyone. This proved to be rather difficult, as getting both her crotch and her breasts covered was nearly impossible. She settled on revealing an indecent amount of cleavage while keeping her nether regions protected.

"Dr. Sweets. Truth or Dare?" Pretending to be indifferent to her current clothing situation was proving to be quite a task.

"Dare." Sweets said, trying to stop himself from laughing and definitely trying to stop himself from staring at the top swells of the hospital administrator's breasts. He did have a girlfriend, after all. He wondered what would get thrown at him. Hopefully something adventurous, exceedingly bold, and entirely impersonal.

"I dare you to streak around this floor." Sweets paled. Maybe he shouldn't have asked for something bold. He was hoping for something like… well, nothing like _that_. It was one thing to expose yourself to a small group, but dozens of professionals? That was just foolish.

"Are you going to do it? Or are you afraid of a little indecent exposure?" Cuddy was eager to inflict damage on someone else; she was getting very uncomfortable in her current position on the chair but wasn't going to risk House peeping at something she wasn't prepared for him to see. He had his eyes glued to her like a particularly ravenous crow eying a party of six out on a picnic, waiting for the opportune moment to grab at the meat.

"I don't think that that's an appropriate dare, Dr. Cuddy. I think that the dares should stay within the circle." Of course, if it was anyone else, Sweets would have encouraged the dare, but he wanted to keep the respect he had earned. No one would take him seriously after streaking through the building.

"Oh no, Dr. Sweets, you're not wiggling out of this one." House said, looking to Booth for approval. Funny that he would look to the other macho man to back him up, even though he knew the FBI agent despised him on principle. Luckily, Booth shared his opinion on the matter.

"You gotta do it, Sweets." Booth said, grinning. Payback for all the annoying times when, well, Sweets was just being Sweets.

"Take off your clothes and go." Cuddy said, gesturing to him. Best to just get it over with, really.

"Can Hodgins go with me?" Sweets asked in a last-ditch attempt to make his situation better.

"We can do group dares later. Go embarrass yourself." she answered. Sweets reluctantly removed his garments. He wasn't ashamed of his body, but the act of streaking wasn't something he would ever live down. Hoping that no one was staring at his jewels as he ran out of the circle, the young psychologist left the lab and went off into his doom.

"Just once around, Sweets!" Angela cried after him, almost unable to control her laughter. It was Brennan that finally set her off. The loud, piercing giggle was the last thing she expected out of the anthropologist's mouth.

Booth looked at her questioningly as his partner continued to chuckle.

"It's just, comical that Sweets, he seems to have worked hard to get respected, and now…" The entire circle erupted in laughter as Sweets came back, the reddest that anyone had ever seen him.

"Right…" the embarrassed psychologist muttered, looking for his next victim. It would be the one laughing the most. That person seemed to be House.


	23. Chapter 23

"Dr. House." Sweets said abruptly, catching the diagnostician in mid-chortle.

"Yeah?" House managed to choke out, out of air from laughing at the young psychologist, who, unfortunately, was still wearing his birthday suit.

"Truth or Dare?" House pretended to think about it, already knowing his answer. It had been far too long since...

"Dare." he said finally, after an obnoxiously long pause. And Sweets grinned maniacally.

"I dare you to wear Dr. Cuddy's undergarments." House laughed again, wondering whether the young man was serious, suspecting that he was.

"You want me to wear Cuddy's panties?"

"And her bra." Sweets said sweetly, looking at the woman who owned the mentioned lingerie.

"No way." House and Cuddy said simultaneously.

"What, afraid I'm going to get nasty House germs on your Victoria's Secret best?"

"No, but you'd stretch them."

"I'm sure you have sets to spare. It's not like you lose much underwear at your lover's house, anyways, seeing as you haven't had a date in years." That seemed to set Cuddy off.

"Fine." she told Sweets, who smiled even wider.

"Wait, is this over my clothes?" House seemed a little worried. Cuddy couldn't blame him; it would be humiliating to sit on a chair in ladies undergarments, nearly ever inch of skin exposed. Shit. His leg. He wouldn't want anyone to see the large, mottled scar on his right thigh. Hopefully Sweets would remember that, otherwise they were going to get a very touchy House on their hands soon.

"Over your clothes." the young psychologist answered, and Cuddy breathed a sigh of relief.

"Fine." House grumbled, and limped over to the pile of clothing that Cuddy had left under her chair. If there was one advantage to this dare, it was definitely seeing his boss's underwear. If you could even call them underwear. He held up a paper thin pair of panties that seemed to defy the laws of physics in that there was no way that they could fit around Cuddy's bodacious ass.

Willing himself to think of horrible things like crying infants and tortured puppies and NOT his boss in her underwear, House made a show of putting on the undergarments, never breaking his teasing stare with Cuddy. The _pièce de résistance _was definitely her bra, though. It matched the black silk panties in both material and provocativeness. He mentally ran through a list of diseases native to South Africa, knowing that if he thought any more about Cuddy, currently naked except for a lab coat, and the way that the delicate lace of her bra would caress her perfect breasts, he would be in big trouble. Unfortunately for him, while he was well versed in the mechanics of unclasping women's undergarments, he didn't have much experience in doing them up. He struggled for several minutes, trying to stretch the thin material to meet its partner on the other side, before an amused Cuddy got up and did the clasp for him. She smiled at him mischievously, and he couldn't help but feel a thrill in his chest and a twinge in his groin.

"And there was me thinking that you were an expert in ladies' underwear, House." she said when he finally sat down, scowling at anyone who gave him a funny look, which turned out to be everyone.

"Not much advantage to me, doing them back up." he shot back, trying to keep the glee he was feeling off his face. In turning towards him, part of the lab coat had moved away from her chest and he could see her entire left breast. Though he wanted desperately gloat about seeing at least part of her naked anatomy, he didn't want the show to end prematurely. Damn, if that was just one breast… well, he seemed to be missing a lot in the bedroom department.

"Are you going to dare someone?" Booth asked indignantly from beside the mesmerized diagnostician. House mentally shook his head. The time for ogling was later. The time for fun with the sexy scientist and her hot FBI agent was now.

"Dr. Brennan. Truth or Dare?" Oh, he had a good one up his sleeve, one that was sure to get Booth VERY flustered.

"Dare." Brennan answered as expected.

"I dare you to give Special Agent Booth a lap dance." Booth immediately turned bright red, while Brennan seemed mildly confused.

"I don't have any training in that sort of activity, Dr. House."

"I'm sure you can think of something." House said, smiling at her. Booth knew that that smile meant nothing good, and the nothing good was for him. He vaguely remembered a trip to a strip club for an investigation and the subsequent lap dance that he had gotten from the woman they needed to question. According to his partner, she had excellent control of her hips. Well, now was the chance to see if his Bones had such control of her own body. He would have to dip into his repertoire of things that did not give him an erection to keep himself in check, but maybe a lap dance from Brennan was just what he needed. Aside from a good kick in the pants, that is.

_Just keep thinking about Sweets in drag, Sweets in drag, Sweets in drag, _he told himself as Brennan got up and walked over to him. He gulped. _Sweets in drag…_


	24. Chapter 24

Booth didn't know where to put his eyes. One second he could see the smiling face of his very intelligent and VERY hot partner as she straddled him, the next, her breasts were in his face, and quite frankly, he had no idea if he was supposed to give in and admire her chest, or look straight ahead, trying not to think about what she was doing to him.

Sweets in drag. Sweets in drag. Sweets in…. ok, now she was grinding into his crotch. She was no Strawberry Lust, but she _was_ very seductive…

Hodgins in drag… covered in intestines… doing the chicken dance… going into a meat grinder… Wait. Is it over? Open your eyes, Booth, Brennan sat back down. Okay. Breathe. Hodgins is not going into a meat grinder in drag covered in entrails, your partner who you do NOT have feelings for is no longer giving you a lap dance, everyone is staring at you… Wait. Staring? Why are they staring?  
"Booth?" Concerned voice. Brennan's concerned voice. Look at her. Look at partner, Booth. Use brain, start talking.

"Uh… yeah?" Good. Good talking Booth, now breathe. Breathe Booth. Look at man sitting next to you laughing ass off. Good. Looking good.

"Are you okay? You look-"

"I'm uh, fine." Okay, you are fine. Breathe. Heart beat is… fast. Slow down Booth, slow down.

"You're looking kinda shocked there, Special Agent Booth, do you need to take a minute? Are you having a heart attack? It's okay, Booth, there are doctors here." House. House was talking. Damn him. Damn him for daring Brennan. Use voice Booth, use your voice. Everything is back to normal now.

"No, I'm not having a heart attack, will you shut up?" Okay, you can think straight now. Look at Brennan, Booth. She's looking at you. Smile. Okay, that wasn't much of a smile. More of a painful situation grimace. Oh well.

"Hodgins. Truth or Dare?" Brennan asked the man sitting across from her. He grinned.

"Dare." he answered.

"I dare you to kiss Dr. House." A heavy silence fell over the group as Hodgins and House stared at each other in shock.

"I don't see a problem with the dare, it's a simple action. Many men engage in meaningless homosexual activities." Angela and Cuddy were looking at their respective ex-lovers in amusement; both knew that kissing another man would harm their 'manliness'.

"Uh… you want me to _kiss him_, kiss him?" Hodgins asked, looking like he had just been asked to stuff a live turtle down his throat.

"I believe that's what I dared you to do, yes." House seemed to be trying to figure out which facial expression would best protect his reputation. Was it the mortified look or the passive uncaring look? Decisions, decisions…

"Uh, okay…I guess we'll just kinda… lean in…uh…" Hodgins was spared from further stuttering by House grabbing him by the lapels and kissing him forcefully. Needless to say, the ladies were shocked. The questionably straight diagnostician broke the kiss after the required fifteen seconds and wiped his mouth on his shirt sleeve.

"What?" he asked as everyone stared at him. "He was taking too long!"

Cuddy held up her cellphone and showed House the video.

"I am so sending this to Wilson." she said, grinning at him wickedly.

"You took a video of that? What happened to 'what happens in the circle, stay in the circle'?"

"I don't remember that being a rule." she grinning at him, looking through her contacts for a James Wilson.

"You evil, cunning woman… once again, a HUGE turn on." Cuddy blushed at that, but managed to comment nevertheless.

"A bigger turn on than _that_ was?" she teased, pressing the send button. House rolled his eyes but otherwise didn't comment, drawing several eyebrows.

"Is anyone going to dare anyone, or all we all going to sit her and question my sexuality?"

"Good point." Hodgins said, obviously still reeling from the passionate kiss he had received from the grumpy doctor. Not saying that he was into men but… man did House ever have skills with his tongue. "Dr. Cuddy, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." she said, not wanting to get dared when wearing such a compromising outfit. Oh yes, she had caught House staring at her left breast… but who was to deny the man a free show? At least, that was her excuse, which really, wasn't an excuse at all.

"If you had to get married to anyone in this circle, who would it be?" _Damn… _House thought, _she's going to pick me, and I'm going to get mocked, or she's going to make it awkward._

"Special Agent Booth." Cuddy answered, surprising everyone, including the FBI agent in question.

"Really? Why?"

"What, you thought I would want to get married to House? From what I know, Booth is a gentleman, wouldn't cheat on me, would treat me properly, and wouldn't disappoint me." Through her explanation, she glared quite obviously at House, who had the decency to look down at the ground, if not in shame then in discomfort.

He knew he wasn't exactly prime husband material, but Booth? She had just met him a few days ago! Besides, he knew she wanted him, so what was with the bogus answer? Although, come to think of it, asked the same question he would probably go for the aforementioned FBI agent's hot partner, who seemed like the type of woman who would share his views of marriage, which is to say, no marriage at all.

Brennan couldn't help but agree with every point that Cuddy had made. It was a logical choice, and yet something didn't seem right about what the older woman had said. Of course, the bad feeling was jealousy, but would Brennan know that?

"Booth, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." Booth was still a little bit off from his lap dance, but supplementing himself with images of decaying flesh helped him stop thinking about his partner's perfect ass.

"If you had to marry anyone in this circle, who would it be and why?" Did he detect a teasing note in the Dean of Medicine's voice?

"Bones." he said simply, trying not to look anyone in the eye.

"Because...?"

"Because she's the only woman that I can see myself with." There, he said it. It wasn't quite an 'I love you' but it was certainly almost as permanent. Sweets would have a field day with this one…

Angela giggled yet again. Man, if he could wipe off everyone's stupid knowing smirk… well that would leave Brennan's slightly puzzled and intrigued expression. Why exactly was Truth or Dare a good idea, again?

"Okay, let's see, Truth or Dare…" Booth said quickly, trying to get everyone to stop staring at him. Geez, that was getting annoying. First with the fantasies, then the kiss, then the lap dance, now this… okay, maybe he had _some _sort of feelings for her.

"House." he said, wondering what the older man would pick. He was really starting to get on his nerves. Even when he looked away, he could see the diagnostician's grinning face. Well, now was the time to torture _him_.

"Dare." What sort of diabolical dare could he come up with for House? Truth be told, Booth wanted some hard evidence before he could go in for the kill on the mandatory Truth round he was planning for next time. The simplest option was the best, really.

"I dare you to kiss Dr. Cuddy." It really seemed like everyone had forgotten about that one. Booth still remembered House's claim that he and his boss could beat their record of fifty-two seconds. And Booth wanted to be there to see it happen.


	25. Chapter 25

"Okay." House said, deciding that it would be amusing to adopt a funeral tone. This was, after all, the most serious thing he had ever done in his life. He winked at Cuddy, who looked away. Oh, she _so_ wanted him.

"Well, come here Cuddles, and plant one on old House." He made an exaggerated kissing face. Trust him to make something he wanted so badly into a joke. Cuddy shuffled her chair over to House's, and was about to place her lips on his when Booth interrupted.

"Wait, you have to straddle him." the FBI agent added, having WAY too much fun. Unfortunately, there was such thing as _too_ much fun.

"You can't give me instructions, you can only give instructions to the person you're daring." As much as she wanted to kiss House... well, doing it with her body exposed to him on his lap would get him a bit _too_ excited. She was in no way in the mood to deal with awkward male situations. She was fairly certain that he was already pretty turned on, what with the lab coat and the lingerie that he was currently wearing. A kiss as hot as that one would be would probably send him over the edge.

"Fine." Booth said, refusing to give up on the dare, "_Dr. Cuddy_, I dare you to kiss House while straddling him." Oh, he thought he was being tricky, daring her instead. Well, Booth had gotten too caught up in his own game, because there was no way in hell that that dare was going to happen, not like that.

"I choose Truth." Cuddy said. Oh yes, very tricky Dr. Cuddy, but you didn't count on Booth catching up to your game. You're going to regret picking Truth...

"Are you in love with House?" he asked bluntly, catching Cuddy completely off guard. And to be fair to House, the world renowned diagnostician was pretty surprised too. Surprised to the point of embarrassment, of course. They all knew she had it bad for him, so what was the point in dragging it out in the open?

And of course, Cuddy was struggling to figure out the best way to answer the question. The simple, beautiful, to the point answer was yes, but she wasn't ready for that, no one was. Booth might have found himself a new unabashed approach to _his_ female problem, but a man such as House didn't like to put labels on the emotions he so reluctantly experienced. But no, the inevitable _love_ question had been asked, and all eyes were on her to answer it. All eyes except for the pair of ice blues orbs that belonged to the stubborn, egotistical, insufferable ass of a world renowned diagnostician who she happened to be in love with.

"What do you mean by 'in love with'?" she asked, trying to delay the inevitable. Unfortunately, there's this thing with avoiding the inevitable. The inevitable has an annoying habit of being_ inevitable_.

"Oh come on, you know what I mean." Booth said, smiling. "You smile when you start thinking about all the things they've done for you, you always want to protect them, you get all nervous when they're in the room because you're afraid of screwing up, you can't stop thinking about them, even when you really need to focus on something else, you-"

"So pretty much what you feel about Dr. Brennan?" House felt that his sure to be long winded tangent needed to be interrupted. That was because he didn't want to hear a lovesick ramble, not because it described to a tee what he felt about Cuddy. Oh no, that would be ridiculous. Perish the thought of him being in love. Preposterous.

"I believe we're talking about you, Dr. House, so if you could shut up and wait for your boss to answer…"

"I don't think I can answer that." If she could just wiggle out of the question… well, that was unlikely with this group of people. But a woman had to try.

"Do you love him?" Oh, this one was tricky, but Booth would get her, somehow, someway… it was her fault, after all, that he wanted revenge on the pair of them; it was her question about marriage that sent him on attack mode, that on top of the lap dance… oh, he needed revenge.

"I care about him, I would be devastated if he died, I want him to be happy, he's been in my life for two decades, yes, I LOVEhim." But did she say she was IN LOVE with him? No, no she didn't. Ha ha ha. Round one goes to Cuddy, Special Agent Booth.

"So you ARE in love with him?"

"No, I said I LOVE him. Nothing about harbouring any romantic feelings. There's more than one type of love, and I said that I have deep feelings of friendship towards him."

"So you didn't answer my question. You have to answer the question, or you can't play anymore."

"You changed the question to 'Do you love him'. So I don't have to tell you whether or not I'm in love with him until you Truth me again."

"No, that was an extra question that you chose to answer. You still have to answer the first one. It's in the rules."

"Well, since House is the one who started the game, I think he gets to decide." Devious, very devious, Dr. Cuddy, getting the man who does NOT want to hear about you being in love with him to decide whether or not you should spill the beans. Very devious.

"I think Cuddles is right." House said cheerfully, obviously relieved that he wouldn't have something as horrible and complicated as the word 'yes' to think about for oh, the rest of his narcotic shortened life.

"So, now it's my turn to pick someone." Cuddy was painfully aware that though she had won the battle, she was going to lose the war. When Booth picked her again, she would either get dared to kiss House while straddling him or admit that she was in love with him. Just perfect.

"Angela. Truth or Dare."

"Dare." Angela giggled, ready for some action. She hadn't seen too much lately.

Cuddy pondered for a moment. She wanted to get back into the ridiculous dares part of the game, not the touchy-feely moments.

"I dare you to sit on Sweet's lap."

"NO way!" Angela squealed, looking over at the young psychologist in fear. "He's naked!" Hodgins looked down in shame. Sweets wouldn't still be in the nude if he hadn't stolen his clothing. Now it was coming back to bite him in the ass. Not that it mattered whose naked lap his ex sat on. It would just be better if it was his. Curse karma, and curse Booth for screwing up the House/Cuddy kiss. He had _really_ been looking forward to that.

"I don't see a problem." Cuddy said, smiling innocently. Giving Angela this dare to get back at her for the lab coat thing, that would be _petty_. Then again, pettiness was a key element in the game. "If you don't do it, you can't play anymore." she finished, echoing Booth's earlier words to her. Truth or Dare was a vicious, underhand game, full of secret plots and dirty revenge, and this round was no exception.

"Fine." the younger woman grumbled, walking reluctantly over to Sweets. Judging by the way he was sitting, the psychologist had no shame when it came to his body. She sat rather forcefully down on him, which really, wasn't fair, seeing as the dare wasn't his fault. Nearly everyone in the circle laughed as she grudgingly sat on his thighs, looking as if she would rather be fighting off a pair of rabid skunks than occupy the same chair as Dr. Lance Sweets.

"Okay guys, stop laughing. We're going to do an all truth round next." House groaned. He hated truth. He only picked truth to screw with people, not to admit anything to anyone.

"Good idea, Angela." Booth said, smirking. House knew that that smirk meant no good, and that no good was for him.


	26. Chapter 26

**Okay, we're actually going to get somewhere in this chapter. I didn't realize that I had written an entire chapter of nothing happening, but I did.  
**

"Okay," Angela started, looking around at the circle, noting the less than pleased looks on both her best friend and the grumpy middle aged man sitting two seats down from her. This was going to be fun, and it would more than likely get a few more things out in the open. "I'm going to go first. We ask someone a question, they answer it and ask someone else a question until everyone has gone once. Then we're going to do an all Dare round." Brennan knew that mischievous smirk on Angela's face meant she was planning something. More than likely, she would get picked and would have to answer an embarrassing and/or deeply personal question, which wasn't really something that she did on a daily basis. On the other hand, another likely target would be the man currently staring up at the ceiling, making obnoxious popping sounds. Hopefully she would be questioned by someone who knew little about her, and definitely not by House. This just left her to be questioned by Cuddy, whom she suspected had enough respect for her privacy to ask her an impersonal question like the day she lost her virginity. She didn't really understand why people were embarrassed by questions like that, because in her opinion, a time in someone's life didn't offer up any emotion, the thing that really made a question personal. Statistically, however, it was more probable for her to get asked a question about Booth, seeing as everyone else in the circle wanted to get 'all down in her business', as Booth would say. If that was indeed the phrase. She never could remember these things.

Angela couldn't decide on who to pick. Obviously, she had some choice questions for everyone, but working on Booth and Brennan was definitely a priority. Seeing as Booth didn't seem to have too much of a problem with admitting things (at least not as much of a problem as Brennan did), it didn't seem like she needed to waste her question on someone who _would_ pick Truth again. Brennan, however, needed some prodding. Her decision was made. Someone else would have to ask House the big question next time. She was sure that someone would. Getting the misanthropic diagnostician to admit that he wanted not only to bang his boss but to fall asleep in her arms for the rest of his life seemed second in demand only to the question she was about to pose to Brennan.

"Sweetie, by Booth's definition of being in love, are you in love with him?" And that was the million dollar question. Brennan looked down at the floor, and up at Booth's face, and saw the answer. She _was_ in love with him, if she needed to use a common label for the things that she felt for her partner.

"Yes." she answered, surprised to hear the word come out of her mouth. "Booth's earlier words on 'being in love' seem to describe my feelings towards him accurately." No one in the circle was more dumb-founded than Sweets, who, from behind the woman sitting on his lap, was wearing an expression halfway between utter disbelief and complete happiness. He had hoped for something like this to happen, but wasn't expecting anything life-changing. But apparently Angela had asked just the right question, because Brennan had barely hesitated before answering to the affirmative.

Brennan looked around the room. She seemed to have silenced the whole group with her answer, which was odd, seeing as an unexpected admission such as hers would surely garner some sort of verbal reaction. But no, mouths remained silent and open as she looked back towards her partner, who looked shocked.

"I'm supposed to ask someone a question, right?" she asked after what seemed to be more than enough time for the players to get over her answer. It was ridiculous really. It was just a simple yes, to a question that really wasn't that hard to answer. Of course, without Booth's definition of being in love to work off of, she would have been at a loss, but with a guide, fitting the things that she associated towards Booth with his ideas on love was a simple task, almost scientific. Angela would doubtless romanticize it, but in essence, it was an uncomplicated answer. The big question though, was whether or not she was in love with Booth according to her _own_ definition.

Sweets looked at House. He was staring at Brennan, who seemed to briefly look at him before settling her eyes back on Booth. House regarded her curiously, as if she were some sort of experiment that had done something unexpected. That was the difference between Brennan and House, he supposed; while both disliked personal questions and matters concerning the metaphorical 'heart' and irrationality, she was willing to tell the truth as plainly as she saw it, whereas his blatant truths were spoken with discretion, always with an end goal in mind, never without careful scrutiny by the mental filter that he depended on to keep his reputation in check. He knew whose place he would rather be in. Brennan had a fantastic job, a group of people who loved and cared about her, and a man who was willing to do anything for her. House had a similar support group, he suspected, but she appreciated the people around her, while he refused to believe that any of it was for real. There was no doubt that Brennan would end up the happier person. And yet, he suspected that House, with his stubborn perceptions on how he should be treated, wouldn't have it any other way.

"Booth, was there something wrong with my answer?" she asked her partner, who seemed to snap out of thought to answer her question.

"No Bones, it's just that you said you didn't believe in love. We're just surprised, that's all." Surprised didn't cover the half of it. One part of him was in complete joy, at his Bones finally admitting that she loved him, albeit in her own way. The other part was trying to tell him that she would likely rationalize her answer, dismissing it as something that didn't change anything, and that reality would settle in and nothing would change.

"I don't believe in love Booth, but according to what you defined 'being in love' as, I am in love with you. That doesn't mean that I think that being in love is a real phenomenon, but as far as your definition goes, that is what I am."

House had to hand it to her, she handled the question well. He admitted that she was far more rational than him; he was bitter and damaged and callous, whereas she was innocence without innocence, the epitome of left-brainedness, a rationality that he could never achieve because she didn't lie about what she felt, she stored her feelings away and took them out of their boxes later, and focused on the truth that was the here and now. And for that, he was envious, because he would always feel the need to cover up his tracks and live life inside a shell, not letting anyone in and not letting anything out.

Booth didn't really have anything to say to her answer. She responded to the question just like she always did, taking it literally, and so she answered it without shame. And there was his answer. She felt the same way about him that he did about her, and hopefully that would be good enough.

"I'm guessing that none of you have answered me because you're still in shock over my apparently unexpected answer, so I'm going to go ahead and ask someone a question. Angela. If you had to break your celibacy vow with anyone in the room, who would it be?"

Angela paled slightly. Brennan wasn't going to like the answer to this one.

**Did everyone see the season premiere of Bones? I'm Canadian, so we got to see it on Wednesday. And is anyone else totally psyched (no pun intended) for the two hour premiere of House?**


	27. Chapter 27

**Ok, HOPEFULLY more frequent updates from now on. But this is a nice, happy, fluffy chapter, so I'm inclined to continue quickly. THANKS for all the reviews by the way, you guys rock!**

"Sweetie, you can't ask _me_, you have to ask someone else, or else I have to go twice. The last person gets to ask me." Thank god she wouldn't have to answer that question due to a technicality, because the last thing that Brennan needed to hear was that Angela wanted to sleep with the partner she had recently admitted her 'love' for. Not that she wanted to take Booth away from her best friend, far from it, but her hormones were screamed at her whenever an attractive person walked into the room.

Brennan reconsidered her options. She admitted that she had gotten a little carried away by the prospect of questioning her friend without any games or avoidance. But, the Truth or Dare had to go on properly.

"Dr. Sweets. What do you find attractive in a female?" Booth rolled his eyes. That was a pretty lame question, considering all of the things that _he_ wanted to ask Sweets. Then again, Brennan probably wanted to hear a man of psychology's thoughts on attractiveness, when she herself knew so much about the anthropological reasons for human attraction. That _would_ be something she would be interested in, whereas a person like Angela would be more concerned with such 'trivialities' as when the young man had lost his virginity. No, Brennan was definitely not a woman in the stereotypical sense.

Booth listened for a few seconds as Sweets rambled on about what he enjoyed in a female before drifting off into his own world. Brennan looked REALLY pretty when she had that _look_ on her face, the look that meant she was fascinated by something, the look that he always saw on her when she was looking at a particularly puzzling set of bones.

He was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of Sweets asking House what seemed to be a long winded and deeply personal question. Unfortunately, he didn't catch any of it.

"Could you repeat that, Sweets?" he asked, deciding that the time for daydreaming was later. Now it was game time, and he had every intention of paying attention to everything. Well, maybe if he kept telling himself that, he would stop going off into la-la land. His previous efforts at focus hadn't worked out so well, though.

"I'll shorten the question; the chance of Dr. House feigning sleep in response to the length of it will be lower." Sure enough, House was 'snoring' loudly beside him. "Dr. House, your refusal to accept the possibility that someone could ever _truly_ love and care for you is rooted in your belief that people are entirely self-centered and so, there could be no possible logical reason for anyone to ever do so, because in doing so they would inevitably hurt themselves, seeing as you are _obviously _someone that destroys everything he touches, and that, of course, would negate their efforts of self-preservation. If this were proven to be untrue, do you think that you could love that seemingly impossible person in return?"

"I thought you said this wasn't going to be long winded." House remarked, head spinning at the annoying accuracy at which Sweets had figured him out.

"Well, compared to the rant Agent Booth had stopped me from going into…" The older man grunted, wondering how he would answer the question. He KNEW that his world view was right; he had seen proof of it almost everyday he had been alive. People _were_ self-centered, and it _didn't_ make any sense for anyone to WANT to care for him, without some ulterior motive or selfish reward. It was people like Cameron who fell for him, people who needed to fix things, and that in itself was selfish. It wasn't really love; it wasn't really the deep connection that everyone talked about. But if somehow, someone could actually be in love with _him_, not the reputation, not the disability, not anything else except the person that he hid beneath the surface, could he love them in return? The answer, of course, was yes, it had been proven before, he _could_ love. But he knew that that special person WASN'T out there, could never _be_ out there, even though he wanted more than anything for her to be in the room with him.

"I think," he started quietly, staring at the flickering light in the hall across from where he was seated, "I think that I could." And with that, a solemn silence passed over the room at the curmudgeon's admittance, and Sweets smiled, a true, genuine smile.

"I think that you could too." the young psychologist told him, and he nodded, looking down at the floor.

"Agent Booth!" House suddenly said brightly, catching everyone off guard. Except, of course, the man in question, who seemed to be paying a little too much attention to Brennan. _Again_. Sheesh, did the man ever stop daydreaming about her?

"Hello, Agent Booth? Are you still _in_ there? And yes, that IS a reference to what is most likely the cause of your vacant expression. Get your mind out of your partner's pants, and back into the game. I have a question for you." Booth blushed slightly. Oh, he was SO getting House for that one. As if the crude remark wasn't enough embarrassment, a certain part of his anatomy seemed to be very interested in Brennan. More specifically the way her lips had felt when he was kissing her, which seemed like an eternity ago. He willed himself to focus, and turned towards Sweets, with whom he was very impressed. _He_ sure as hell couldn't sit there with Angela on his lap without some sort of… reaction. Judging by the expressions of both occupants of the chair, Sweets had VERY good control of his body (and, of course, that brilliant mind of his).

"What's your question, House?" he asked, feigning casualness. House's sincere response had really thrown him. He knew that the man was a miserable specimen of a species, and that he didn't like to deal with anyone, but the seriousness with which the diagnostician had answered Sweets' question was not something he had expected. Evidently, there were many more layers to this man that just misery, addiction, pain, and misanthropy. He was reminded momentarily of the movie he had seen with Parker, many years ago, about the ogre and the donkey and the metaphor about the onion. House was an onion if he had ever seen one. He almost smiled at the comparison.

After thinking about House and his admittance of his humanity (or what _could_ be his humanity), his thoughts had drifted to his partner, and her capacity to love. No, she didn't believe in love that was transcendent, or eternal, but maybe, one day, he could give her what she wanted to feel, and they could experience it together.

"My question is, now that you know that Dr. Brennan's feelings for you seem to be mutual, at least definition wise, are you seriously considering jumping her tonight? And by jumping, I mean driving her home, giving her a kiss on the cheek, saying some nice gentlemanly things before kissing her tenderly, then waiting for the waves of passion to float you to the shore of '_lovemaking_'?" Well, THAT was an interesting question. Right now, he was thinking more along the lines of not waiting to get to Brennan's apartment and doing the deed in her office. Then again, that probably wouldn't go over well with Cam (doubtless she would find out through Angela or Hodgins). Come to think of it, House's plan _did_ sound pretty solid, though of course, admitting so would ruin the whole element of surprise.

"I wouldn't do anything she wouldn't want me to." Booth said, not really answering the question, but who was counting anyway?

"Oh, I'm sure she wants you to. I'm sure you've both wanted this for a very long time. The question is, of course, what happens next? Personally, I think only good things with a couple as attractive as you to. Then again, I'm not really a relationship expert. I'm taking that as a yes, by the way. Assuming of course that you've decided to adopt my genius plan, confirming it yourself would probably ruin everything. Carry on with the questioning." _And stop staring at me_, he thought, _it's not as if I've grown a second head_. Well, it was kind of unexpected for him to say things about his feelings. But it was Truth or Dare! What was he supposed to do, deflect until they all fell asleep? It wasn't really that much of a difficult question, although it did involve admitting that he was a skeptical son-of-a-bitch with a misanthropic world view, a view that seemingly prevented him from reaching true happiness. Well, when he met a person who genuinely loved him for who he was and not what they thought they could do with him, then he would start giving those goddamn optimists a bit more credit. For now, he was content in his solitude and his inescapable truths, and the knowledge that if the day ever came, he _could _love.

"Hodgins. Do you still love Angela?" House had already figured out that two of their members had had some recent history. Their body language was _so_ obvious. Apparently, it was a pretty hot topic around here, Angela Montenegro and Jack Hodgins. Well, he'd put his money on the man still loving his ex, judging by the daggers currently being shot at the young psychologist currently sitting on the artist's lap.

"Of course, I don't think I could ever stop." Hodgins said with a sad smile, looking over at Angela. She blushed and smiled shyly back at him. "Even though I'm still in pain, you're still an amazing person, and nothing that happens between us will change that." The last part was obviously addressed to her and her alone, and Booth couldn't help but smile. The way things were going, it looked like the only one who wasn't going to get hooked up that night was Sweets, and that was just because Daisy was off vacationing in Mexico for the week. Then again, the House/Cuddy situation needed a lot of work. The nefariously argumentative couple had yet to kiss, but hopefully that would be remedied soon enough.

Obviously, much of the same was on Hodgins mind, because the person he picked was none other than Lisa Cuddy herself, who was shivering in a dark blue lab coat, the only thing separating her and the cold air of the room. The temperature had dropped as the night had gone on, and now more than ever she was cursing Angela for her dare. Unfortunately, her luck was not going to be turning anytime soon. Or was it? She realized as she heard Hodgins speak that SHE would be the one to ask the final question.

"Cuddy. Are you the so called 'impossible' person that Sweets described in House's question?" She smiled to herself. As soon as Sweets had finished the question, there had only been one person who had come to mind. _She_ was the anomaly, the woman who had fallen in love with the man beneath the monster. She smiled again, remembering that House himself had said that he _could_ love that someone. Unbeknownst to her, and in some ways, to House, he already did.

"Yes." Cuddy answered softly, glancing at her most difficult employee to see the most delicate, complicated, and heart-achingly beautiful expression she had ever seen on his face. For a moment, she thought that she saw tears in his eyes, tears at the confirmation of something that his cold, bitter heart had been simultaneously hoping for and denying since they had first become two people who would dance around each other for decades. He looked shy, reluctant, joyous, hopeful, and relieved. Now, the burden had been lifted, and now, maybe he could be a little bit happier. It was a simple syllable, but she knew that that one word had changed her life forever. Yes, she was the one who would love him, no matter what happened, and now, he knew that.


	28. Chapter 28

**Grr. I did NOT have writer's block, I just… ran out of ideas. But fear not! I have the end in mind, and the updates (again) should be coming quicker. Heh heh. No, seriously this time.**

"Angela," she said softly, breaking the stare that she and House had been sharing for more minutes than she could remember. It had just be the two of them in the room, for the moments after her admission, and she was reluctant to bring herself back to reality, but she wanted to be the one to break the silence. She decided to use Brennan's old question, not wanting to spare any thought on anything besides the man sitting across from her, still gazing at her with what he would consider to be shamefully glassy eyes. To her they were just another piece of proof that he was human and _could_ feel intense emotions. "If you had to break your celibacy vow with anyone in the room, who would it be?"

Angela saw the way that Hodgins was looking at her, and it sent a bolt of electricity through her, turning her legs to jello. She realized now, as delicious as Booth would be in bed, that Hodgins knew what she liked, Hodgins knew how to please her, he would be passionate and uninhibited.

"Hodgins." she said easily, and her former lover's sexy grin grew at her answer. She hazarded a wink at him, and his eyes twinkled at her, sending her mind reeling even further. Well, she definitely needed to talk to him after the game, a game that seemed to be taking forever.

"Okay, now's the all Dare round." the artist said after a few seconds of gazing at Hodgins. "It's going to work the same way as last round, except it's Dares. I'll go first again." Now came the tough decision. Booth and Brennan had sure had their full share of hot dares, and she didn't feel the need to humiliate Sweets, not when he was already sitting naked on the chair under her. House and Cuddy sure looked like they needed some action though. They had come close to kissing several times, but they had never actually done that particular dare. And she was sure into the idea that Booth had come up with, Cuddy straddling the man currently wearing her missing undergarments while kissing him. Now that would be hot.

"Dr. Cuddy." Angela said, an evil smile on her face. The Dean of Medicine perked up. She knew exactly what was coming, the look on Angela's face giving it all away. House also sat a little bit straighter, his blue eyes getting just a little bit brighter. "I dare you to kiss Dr. House while straddling him on his chair." Booth let out a wolf-whistle at that, and Brennan's smile grew. House only turned towards Cuddy, a shit-eating grin on his face. He was so ready for this kiss.

"Are you ready Cuddles?" he asked, as she walked over to him, holding the lab coat closed. He moved the chair back, removing himself from the circle slightly. She only smiled as she climbed over him, being mindful of his leg. Her eyes grew wide as he looked down at her chest, a chest that had become exposed when the lab coat had shifted. She ran a hand teasingly over the bra that he still had stretched over his torso, before grabbing his face and lowering her lips down onto his. He immediately pulled her head closer, forcing their mouths even more together. He kissed her with an intensity that Cuddy had never seen before; it was as if he was trying to absorb every bit of her that he could. His tongue played with hers, teasing her with light touches before pulling away, hers chasing after it eagerly. His hands moved from her face down her back, briefly cupping her breasts before drifting downwards, to her hips, and then finally, to her curvaceous ass.

Needless to say, it was a show that not everyone appreciated. Brennan was utterly captivated by the display of passion and lust that she saw before her, and her best friend was equally enthralled. Hodgins looked over at her and winked, and she sent one back at him, all sorts of dirty thoughts going through her head. Sweets was regarding the spectacle with his using objectivity, but he did put a few mental notes away for later. He and Daisy, while deliriously happy together, both had a large appetite for sexual adventure, and this chair scene looked like something that they could get into.

Booth, on the other hand, was looking entirely uncomfortable. House and Cuddy's kiss seemed to go on forever, and it just got hotter as they went. His hands were now openly exploring her body, and she had thrust her pelvis so far into his lap that it was a wonder that they hadn't fused together. Their kisses just went on and on, and even when they both surfaced for a breath of much needed air, they plunged back just as quickly, and soon Booth couldn't tell where one doctor ended and the other one started. He was fairly certain all rational thought had escaped the two colleagues, but when House's hand started sliding the hem of the blue lab coat up Cuddy's thigh, he felt that the pair needed to stop before they started screwing each other in the middle of the lab.

He cleared his throat loudly, which brought the attention of everyone except the pair currently feeling each other up on the chair. Angela giggled at the sight of his furiously red face, and Brennan looked over him with concern.

"Are you okay, Booth? Your face is extremely red. Are you uncomfortable with the current situation? I know you're a little bit more guarded when it comes to sexual matters, but-"

"I'm fine, Bones." he muttered, and looked over at House and Cuddy again. Not seeing House's right hand anywhere, he concluded that the diagnostician had slipped it under Cuddy's lab coat and was probably doing very frownable things in there.  
"Oi!" the FBI agent bellowed, completely annoyed. House quickly retracted his hand out from under Cuddy and separated their mouths. The pair looked over at the group in utter embarrassment, having obviously forgotten that anyone else was there. House took a steadying breath before looking back at Cuddy and smiling. His joy was contagious, for she had started to smile back at him, and he pulled her in for another kiss, but Booth put his foot down again.

"Okay, okay, ENOUGH!" Booth shouted, seriously pissed now. He had NOT expected to be watching the beginnings of a porno shoot, not during a nice game of Truth or Dare. He was completely uneasy, inappropriate thoughts about such situations with one Temperance Brennan threatening to take over his head. He silenced them, and turned back to the task at hand. "Geez, guys, get a damn room! We did NOT need to see that! Christ…" Brennan looked at him again. He looked thoroughly disturbed. She smiled to herself, laughing silently at his discomfort. For a man with so much sexual potential, he sure was a prude…

"Sorry!" House said cheerfully, and looked at Cuddy again. She slung her arm around his shoulders, and looked at the group. She was determined to stay sitting on House, because she knew for a fact that no one needed to see what she had done to his… 'Little House'.

"Okay… Dr. Hodgins…" Cuddy grinned evilly at him, but the bug man wasn't worried. Nothing could get him off the cloud that Angela's answer had put him on, and he had a feeling that Cuddy's dare would just send him higher. Sure enough, the hospital administrator's challenge was one that pleased him.

"Is there a supply closet anywhere near here?" she asked, and Angela just grinned. He was sure that she was reliving all of their experiences in that particular room.

"Yeah…" he answered, almost bursting with anticipation. "But there's a camera in it."

Cuddy just smiled. "Perfect." she said. "I dare you and Angela to spend seven minutes together in it."

It was a very long seven minutes for the rest of the circle, but for Angela and Hodgins, it ended far too quickly.

**I don't know about you guys, but I'm SUPER excited for House tomorrow! But just because House is wearing a wig. AAAAAND Stephen Fry is guest starring on Bones this week! Yes!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Heh heh… me again. Um… I've been working on other fics?**

Hodgins pondered long and hard about his choice for the Dare round. He and Angela had had some 'fun' in the closet, something that they hadn't done in a very long time, and his mind was a little more than fuzzy. However, he did have a game plan in mind, and his goal was to get Booth and Brennan to as many romantic dares as possible.

After Brennan's surprise admission about her feelings for the FBI agent, Hodgins had been full of juicy dares, but all of his plans seemed to have flown out of his head.

Well, seeing as his head was full of romantic ideas about things he could do with his former(?) lover, converting one of them should do the trick.

"Brennan." he said with an evil grin. "I dare you to strip Booth down to his underwear."

Booth immediately turned red, but Brennan's expression didn't change.

"Okay." she replied, and walked past House and Cuddy (who were still tangled in one another), and proceeded to unbutton Booth's shirt.

"Whoa, Bones, slow down there, shouldn't you, uh consult with me first?"

"I don't see why I'd need to." Brennan said, undoing her partner's tie. "Undressing requires minimal participation on your part. You'll merely need to slip out of your garments after I loosen them."

"But, um, undressing is sort of an intimate act. You know, something that _lovers_ do?"

"I see. You're afraid of the dare becoming sexually arousing. I assure you Booth, after my experiences tonight, I know what your erect penis feels like, and the sight of it wouldn't be uncomfortable in any way for me. The dare is perfectly safe. And besides, I've always felt that the more uncomfortable the dare, the more thrilling."

"Well, yeah, but…" She had felt his erect penis? What? It must have been that damn lap dance. He stuttered some more before giving up and staying quiet, praying to God that not too many people were watching as his partner (just partners, just partners, just partners…oh, who was he kidding? She loved him now!) undid his Cocky belt buckle and gestured for him to lift his hips. He did, without protest. How could he have protested? He was focusing all of his energy on keeping his hard-on away from the 'raging' range.

His face turned a further shade of red, a classic "help me!" look on his features.

This was way too much fun, and it gave her plenty of opportunity to let her hands linger on his well-defined muscles longer than was necessary to remove his clothing.

Before long, her masterpiece was ready. Special Agent Seeley Booth sat in his chair, clad in nothing but a pair of Tweety-patterned boxers, a suspiciously large tent pitched in the middle of the soft cotton, a painfully embarrassed look plastered all over his face.

She stood back to admire her handiwork, and she sent him a small smile.

"The situation, coupled with your obvious sexual attraction to me, is a perfectly normal reason for you to have an erection, Booth. I don't see what's so embarrassing about it."

He winced at the 'obvious sexual attraction' comment.

"It's not embarrassing that I have a raging hard-on, Bones, it's that everyone is… staring at it."

"Well, the height of the deformation in the natural shape of your boxers suggests that you have an above-average sized penis."

"Okay, Bones, would you mind not talking about the," He winced again. "Size of my penis in front of everybody?" he finished with a whisper and a begging look on his face.

"Would you prefer we talk about it in private?" she asked, puzzled.

"No! I mean, can we not talk about my junk right now? Uh… maybe we can do the next dare."

"The sexual nature of this dare made you feel uncomfortable. I understand. I think that was Dr. Hodgins' intention."

"Guilty as charged." Hodgins grinned from his chair, holding up his hand.

"Right…" Booth muttered.

"I understand your predicament, Agent Booth." House said loudly, from underneath Cuddy. "I, too, have a rather large tent in my pants. Perhaps we should stop this game for a 'bathroom' break." Cuddy slapped him lightly on the arm.

"You shut up." she muttered. "Or I'll get off you and everyone can look at _your_ man parts."

"I don't see the problem." he stage-whispered in reply.

"Your pants are unbuttoned and unzippered." she whispered back. "I think that's a _little_ more than you want everyone to see."

"Now when did _that_ happen?" House asked mischievously. "Maybe when the little sex kitten sitting on my lap thought we were going to do each other in the middle of a room full of people."

"Your hands were down MY pants, I thought I'd return the favour." Cuddy replied.

"Ah, but you weren't _wearing_ any pants."

"Hence the need to take YOURS off."

Booth had had just about enough of their little conversation. The good Christian man in him didn't want to listen to their discussion about what they had been doing during their kiss (a kiss that had been _way_ too much more than a kiss). It was just wrong. Colleagues weren't meant to fondle each other in a room full of other people while playing a teenager's game, and he certainly wasn't supposed to get an erection just from Temperance Brennan removing his clothing. They hadn't even been kissing or anything. It was like she was getting him ready for a bath, or something. Oh, god, a bath with his partner…

Brennan was watching House and Cuddy with a mildly interested expression on her face. Were she and Booth that at ease with each other? Did they have that sort of connection? Could they sit so comfortably with each other like that without heated faces and gazes turned hurriedly away?

"Uh, Sweetie, as much as we like admiring Booth's junk, I think its time for another dare." The voice of her best friend snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Fine." she started. Cuddy had already gone, Hodgins had already gone, she had already gone, that just left Angela, Sweets, House and Booth. "Sweets. I dare you to…" Hmm, now what was a good dare? The streaking one was good, she admitted, there wasn't much that Sweets didn't seem willing to do.

"I dare you to call Daisy and tell her… that you're in love with Hodgins." she said finally.

Sweets resisted the urge to choke on his own spit. Call Daisy and tell him that he was in love with one of his colleagues? She would probably believe him and offer him numerous emotional apologies.

"Okay…" he said slowly, taking out his phone. "But she's in Mexico. She might not pick up."

"You can leave her a message then."

"What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know. I've never made a confession of love before." Booth made a mental note to correct that later.

"Okay… I'm dialing the number." the young psychologist said, pressing the two on his speed dial. "Hi, Daisy? Yes, it's…Lancelot." He lowered his head at his pet name. "Um, yeah, no, everything's fine… um, I just called you to tell you that… I'm in love with Hodgins. Yes. The bug guy. No, I haven't been leading you on. No, Daisy, disregard everything I just said. Yes, everything. No, I'm not." He moved his head away from the handset.

"Am I allowed to say that I'm playing Truth or Dare?" he whispered.

"No." Brennan said. "You have to come up with another reason."

"No, I was just… doing an experiment on reactions to unexpected news. No, your name isn't going to into any research papers. Yes, I'll see you when you get home. I love you. Bye." He glowered at Brennan.

"I hope you're happy." he said.

"I generally am, Sweets. You should know that." Booth didn't bother to correct her. He was used to her cluelessness so much that by now it had just become another thing he adored about his Bones.

"Okay, Hodgins, I dare you to… photocopy your ass." Sweets said proudly.

"Photocopy my ass... come on, Sweets, that's the best thing you could come up with?"

"I wasn't finished. You then have to scan it into the computer, and email it to everyone in the building. With your name attached."

Hodgins looked around nervously.

"Uh, maybe we should institute the 'what happens in the room, stays in the room' rule." he said.

"No. I need someone to go with him, to make sure that he does it. Booth?" The FBI agent just smiled at him.

"No way am I wandering around the building in the middle of the night in my boxers." he said.

"And no way am I sending a signed picture of my ass to everyone that I work with." Hodgins added.

"Are you chickening out, Dr. Hodgins? And Booth, no one's here."

"That's what you think, Sweets. The squints like to work well into the night. I'll probably get caught by some old guy in the Rome-ology department."

"There's no such thing as the Rome-ology department." Brennan said. "I don't think Booth should go with Hodgins. It's cold, and he isn't wearing enough clothing for a journey to my office."

"You'll go with him, then?" Sweets asked.

"Hang on; I am NOT doing this dare."

"Fine. I guess you'll just have to quit the game."

"I don't get three chances or anything?"

"No. You can do this dare, or leave."

"Fine." Hodgins mumbled, getting up. "Come on Dr. B; let's go take a picture of my gluteus maximus."

Sweets smiled to him. Payback for taking his clothes.

Which reminded him, he should probably go looking for them.

Doubtless Hodgins and Brennan would spend a long time in the copy room, trying to get the perfect shot.

"Make sure you get one to me!" Angela called as they left. Hodgins winced. She was the only one he _wanted_ to have the picture.


	30. Chapter 30

**I made a small edit to chapter 28, so that Angela was the one Cuddy dared and the one dare per person thing still stands. In case anyone is as detail obsessed as I am. **

Hodgins grumbled all the way to the photocopy room. Everyone in the building already thought he was a crazy conspiracy theorist, which was fine, aside from the fact that any sort of elaborate scandals he came up with were immediately dismissed as more of his insanity. But now, he would be known as a crazy conspiracy theorist drunken pervert.

Just when he thought that things were calming down… BAM!, he had to do something stupid and immature like photocopying his ass and sending it to everyone in the building. That kind of thing was only acceptable near the end of fundraisers after consuming copious amounts of alcohol.

On the plus side, he got to talk to Brennan alone after the… well, quite frankly, _expected_ reaction from Booth. He had seen all the pained looks on the FBI agent's face every time his partner came in contact with him in a more than professional way, and well, he didn't envy the poor man who was probably still sitting in his boxers, Angela ogling him not so subtly.

There was NO way they wouldn't get together after everything had been said, though. It seemed that the room of six singles would part as three pairs (and Sweets). He couldn't wait to see Booth and Brennan as a couple. He and Angela had talked long and hard about the relationship between the two partners, back when _they_ had been together, and it seemed the bond had only strengthened since then.

"So," he started, as they walked into the room where his fate as gossip topic of the week would be sealed. "You and Booth, hey?"

"Booth and I what?" she asked, turning on the lights. There it stood, gleaming and grey and fully programmable in front of them. The photocopy machine. Hodgins gulped. Not that he hadn't photocopied his ass before, but… well, no one else had known it was _his_.

"Oh, come on, Dr. B, there's no _way_ you guys aren't going to hook up tonight."

"The term 'hook up' is used to describe a sexual encounter with someone, correct? In that case, I'd have to say that yes, there is a high likelihood of us having intercourse later tonight, unless somehow I have been misinterpreting the signals he's been sending me, which is entirely possible."

"I don't think there's any way to misinterpret an erection." Hodgins smiled, before sitting on the cop machine and sliding his pants down.  
"Don't look." he said, setting up the machine. This was something that the Jeffersonian had been trying to get for months. It was state of the art, and could connect to the internet, so he could send the image to everyone from the photocopier. Fantastic.

"So you're saying that it _is_ most likely true Booth wants to have sex with me?"

"Well, _yeah_. But not just that. You're like, his best friend. When you're in love with your best friend, you tend to want more than just a one night stand." Well, she had certainly hoped that that wasn't what her partner wanted.

"Booth has shown an amount of dislike for one night stands in the past, so I was assuming that he wanted a more long term relationship."

"You guys aren't going to be 'just partners' anymore. _He's_ going to be the one taking you out on dates and _you'll_ be spending time with Parker, when he has him." After looking at the image he had gotten of his gluteus maximus, Hodgins decided that it was the one that looked least like a human ass, and most like an elbow. He went to email, and sent it to everyone on the Jefferesonian's directory. Curse technology, and the ease at which he could humiliate himself. He could have just sent off an image of his actual elbow, but Angela would have received it and sent him back to take again herself. Which may not have been a bad thing…

Brennan thought on what Hodgins had said. A year or two ago, she would not have been sure being a part of the life that her colleague had described, but now, going out to dinner with him as romantic partners didn't seem like such a large step to her, and spending time with Parker didn't seem like something she would screw up, but something that she could actually enjoy. She wasn't scared, anymore, she realized. The things that she felt towards Booth no longer felt just like biological reactions to markers, but like something she could look forward feeling every day, for the rest of her life. She knew now that there was no way her partner would ever leave her, because doing so would hurt him beyond any physical torture anyone could put him through.

"I don't think that I would mind that." she replied, after Hodgins slid off the photocopier.

"Alright, one signed email of my ass sent to everyone in the building." he said, buckling up his belt. 'You ready to go back?"

"Yes. I'm happy we decided to use the staff photocopier, rather than the one in my office. I find it very difficult to deal with at times. Shall we go?"

They walked back to the lab in the dark, most of the lights having been turned off as the night went on. Brennan wondered what the time was. They had been playing the game for quite sometime, and while she was enjoying it, there still remained paperwork to be done. And judging by what had been happening between her and Seeley Booth, there wouldn't be much time for it when they got back to her apartment. Doubtless long-awaited, tension-releasing sex would be highly enjoyable and last most of the day, judging by her partner's good physique. Though _she_ wouldn't know.

Of course, while the pair of scientists had been gone, discussion had been going on in the Medico-Legal lab. Booth had been subjected to too many knowing glances to be entirely healthy, and he was just about ready to scream at everyone.

"Man, they've been gone a while. Think your sexy partner got tired of waiting and just went for the bug guy?"

Booth gritted his teeth. Oh, if he could just go over there and slug the man… well, that wouldn't look to good for a federal agent, would it? Best just to wait until Brennan got back, then the world would light up with her smile and he could forget the annoyingly clever remarks of one Gregory House.

Cuddy smacked him on the arm again, and he retaliated by grabbing her ass. She squealed loudly, and Booth just rolled his eyes. How damn long does it take for a man to photocopy his rear?

"So, Cuddy," House started, still retaining his firm grip on her derriere. "I was thinking that you can I could have dinner together tomorrow. Italian sound good?"

She looked at him incredulously.

"A date?" she asked cautiously. "With _you_?"

"I'm insulted." he said. "Usually when I almost have sex with a woman in front of company, I'm smashed out of my mind, but for you, I was willing to do it sober. Does my sacrifice mean _nothing_ to you?"

"You actually want a _relationship_?" House rolled his eyes. Well, _duh_. What did she think he had been doing?

"Are you completely _dense_?" Booth asked angrily, tired of their constant bickering. "Yes, he _wants_ to have a relationship with you; that was made _slightly_ obvious by his show of human feelings! Christ, do you two act like this _all_ the time? Do you _really_ have this little faith in him?"

"You don't have any faith in me either, why are you standing up for my _feelings_?" House added, removing his hands from Cuddy and placing them behind his head.

Booth rolled his eyes.

"You're in _love_ with her, and she can't accept that because she's probably taken so much shit from you that when you actually do something she likes, she's immediately suspicious. I've seen a _lot _of terrible people in my life, and when I first met you, I thought you were one of them, but hearing you say that you _can_ love someone told me that you have a little more humanity than you'd like people to believe. Somehow, you've managed to be a good person." Booth smiled at his assertions. It always pleased him to find good people in a world that seemed to be spilling over with others who lie, cheat, and kill for little more than a momentary satisfaction.  
"How could you possibly know _anything_ about me? You've only known me for a few days. Maybe I really _don't_ deserve someone like Cuddy."

"I feel it in my gut, okay? I know that you'd never intentionally hurt anyone that you'd care about, because you've got more… _fragility_ than most of us."

"I do not." House muttered, looking away.

"I have to agree with Booth." Sweets added. "You have what we call a-"

"Would you stop it with the psycho-babble? It's bad enough hearing it during our sessions with you, but when we're spending time together as friends?"

"You consider me a friend?" Sweets' expression changed from one of intrigued professionalism to something that a young boy would have, eager to finally be included.

"Yeah, Sweets, we _are_ friends. I thought you would have figured that out, you being a star psychologist and all."

"Your expressions and body language are sometimes harder to read that I would like, but-"

"Hang on, you guys do sessions together? Like, _psychotherapy_?" House shot a look at Booth that made him a little more nervous than he would have liked. Good person or not, House was an ass, first and foremost.

"Special Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan have issues that they need to work through. I merely help them to improve themselves through meaningful discussion."

"Issues like what, the fact that they're in love with each other?"

"Yes, that was one of the larger concerns, but we seem to have cleared that up tonight."

"Thanks to me, of course." House grinned, still not looking at Cuddy. Neither one seemed to be eager to move, despite the argument that they had gotten into, seeing as Cuddy was having a wardrobe issue, and House… simply wasn't decent.

"Yes, your game of Truth or Dare seemed to have eliminated the barrier between truth and lies."

"So, are you going to rat them out to the FBI now? I'm guessing partners can't be in a more _involved _relationship."

"I'm sure it's no less ethical than a boss-employee relationship." Sweets said. He would know. He had looked up the inter-office policies on relationships several times, just to make sure.

"Oh, you _caught_ me! I want a relationship with Cuddy, now the secret's out!"

"You know, I can sense many deeper issues between the two of you. If you want, I can give you a couple complementary sessions with me before you leave, it's the least I can do, after your help with the case and the problems I've been having with Booth and Brennan."

"I'm sure they would rather not, Sweets." Angela said, smiling at House. He stuck out his tongue at her.

"So, Cuddles, is it true? We have deeper issues than the issues I have whenever you walk in the room with a low-cut shirt? You really _can't_ accept anything good from me for more than five minutes?" Cuddy rolled her eyes at him.

"You can't _possibly_ blame me for having doubts about you-"

"What about that _super_ hot kiss? Or, I don't know, every other thing I've said or done tonight that's told you that I want you?"

"House, you've _seemed_ like you wanted me before, and then I just got hurt. What's the evidence for _this_ time?"

"I can't tell you anything that I haven't told you before, because I don't know anything else! I want to be able to love you one day, and I think that you already love me, so I don't see what the big problem is!"

"The problem is that you're unreliable, and I don't know if I'll be able to trust you with my heart in the future!"

"So, wait, what you feel _now_ doesn't mean anything? I felt the way you kissed me, it was like in one of those awful romance novels when the woman can't get enough of her lover because she 'had been thirsty for so long, and in his lips, her thirst was finally quenched', or something lame like that. You can't tell me that you don't want more of _this_."

"Will you guys just shut up for a few seconds?" Booth shouted. "First, you can't stop making out with him, and now you can't figure out whether you want him or not! Here's a hint: you've been flirting with him all day and you attacked him like a rabid dog when you got dared to kiss! Can you just agree to hook up tonight and get it all over with?"

"I'm being stupid, House." Cuddy said, turning her face towards him. "You've been right all along, I just screw up every relationship I have."

"Oh, Cuddy, don't beat yourself up. Just because you can't seem to hang on to a guy for more than a few months doesn't mean _all_ hope is lost. You have me now, and we're going to have really hot sex when we get back to the hotel, okay?" She looked up at him with glassy eyes, and he rolled his before leaning down and placing a kiss on her lips.

"Aww…" Angela squealed. "That was really sweet. If only you and Brennan could just figure it out like that…"

Booth coughed. Brennan and Hodgins had returned, and were both standing in the doorway.

"Figure what out, Angela?" Brennan asked, sitting down. "I can't think of anything I need to figure out."

"You and Booth, Sweetie. _Please_ tell me you're not going back to being 'just partners'."

Booth blushed and looked at his partner sheepishly, as House and Cuddy continued to kiss softly.

"I-" the forensic anthropologist started, but was unsure of where to go with it. _Had _she interpreted his actions and words correctly? Did he _really_ want her as much as she wanted him?

"What Bones is trying to say is that it's none of your business." Booth said firmly, looking to Brennan for support. She nodded quickly.

"_Excuse_ me?" Angela, Hodgins, and Sweets said simultaneously.

"You two are NOT going to be just partners anymore, we all know it. So don't try and deny it, because Brennan's about as good at acting as Paris Hilton, no offense, Bren."

"I don't know what that means."

"Of course you don't… Look, it's pretty obvious what you two are going to be doing after we all leave, so why don't you just say it? You're in love, you're going to grow old together, and you're going to do everything in your power to never, ever leave each other." Brennan looked at Booth, and he looked back at her, with the smile that made her melt, no matter how much she told herself that a person melting at someone's smile was impossible.

"After thinking over what Angela has said, I find myself wanting to believe that that is what will happen to us. Booth, if you are willing to try a romantic relationship in addition to our professional partnership, then I would like to attempt it with you." House and Cuddy had stopped kissing (and fondling) to hear what the rest of the group was discussing. The diagnostician kept giving Booth congratulatory looks, looks that the FBI agent tried to avoid.

"And I'll be there to help you through it." Sweets added, to an eye-roll from Hodgins.

'Thank you Sweets." Brennan said sincerely. "And I would like to thank Dr. House, for suggesting that we play this game; without it, I believe I would have let myself continue to believe that Booth and I were never going to be more than very good friends. I see now how much my partner has come to care for me, and I know that the feelings I have for him are fully reciprocated."

"Come here, Bones." Booth said, having understood what his beautiful partner had been saying. He had been waiting for her to say something like that for months, and in his fear of alienating her, he had been reluctant to say it himself.

Brennan walked over to him, and he stood up, wrapping her in a big hug.

"I love you." he said, finally having the courage to say the words he had been sure would scare her off.

"I understand." she replied, and he pulled back to look at her face. She looked so beautiful, smiling at him like that, and he loathed hiding that smile from his eyes. But he had to, if he was to kiss her.

He lowered his lips to hers, and he could feel his partner smile through the kiss.

Booth wrapped his arms around Brennan once again, and lifted her off her feet as he pressed his lips to hers still more fervently.

They broke apart, Booth not wanting to put a display on for the group like House and Cuddy had, and applause broke out.

Angela beamed at her best friend from her seat beside Hodgins (were they holding hands!?), and he too grinned at the couple, giving Booth a thumbs up. Sweets was beaming like a madman, and was furiously typing out a text message, presumably to Daisy.

Cuddy had put her arms around House's shoulders, and was looking at them happily, surprised that for once in her life; a moment had no bad parts in it, no sacrifices, no conditions.

And House, he seemed to really be smiling, for he too had found a moment of true happiness.

Of course, it was in this moment of total joy that Camille Saroyan decided to walk into the lab, to an embraced Booth and Brennan, Angela and Hodgins, sitting and holding hands, a naked Dr. Lance Sweets, and two people she had never seen before in her life, a middle-aged, unshaven man with a cane in ladies' undergarments and a bombshell of a woman sitting on top of him dressed only in a blue lab coat, a lab coat that she suspected was her own.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked, gesturing to the circle.

House reached around inside his pockets for his familiar bottle of Vicodin. _Now_ seemed the time to take one (or three).

**Well, there's the end of the game. Stay tuned for the next few chapters, and for my next cross-over, to be written during the winter break.**

**WILSON AND HOUSE BOUGHT A LOFT!**


	31. Chapter 31

"Cam!" Booth said, loosening his grip around his partner and settling his arms around her shoulders. "Hey, _Camille_, what's up?"

"Not much, _Seeley_." Cam answered, looking around. There was a great deal more clutter than she was used to seeing in the lab, and a great deal more… well, _exposed_ people might be the right term. "So, you guys have been… uh?"

'We've been playing Truth or Dare." Brennan answered, matter-of-factly.

"Ah… okay. In the lab. I see."

Brennan looked around guiltily. The sterility of the lab had been greatly compromised, and she would likely need to oversee its cleansing later. Which, of course, left less time for… other things.

"We kinda… thought it'd be… a good space." Hodgins said, trailing off. Cam noticed his and Angela's entwined hands and raised her eyebrows, but didn't say anything. There would be time for talk later, after she sorted out this mess.

"And Sweets is naked because…?"

"He got dared to streak around the floor." Angela answered, glancing at the psychologist quickly before looking back at Cam.

"And I hid his clothes." Hodgins added. He was surprised Sweets hadn't gone looking for them while he had been photocopying his ass… oh, Cam would be in for a surprise when she checked her inbox.

"I knew it!" Sweets shouted triumphantly. "You dislike me, and so you tried to humiliate me further by taking away the comfort of modesty!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. Who the hell are _these _people?" she asked, gesturing to House and Cuddy.

"Greg House." House said. "I would shake your hand, but I can't really get up right now, and I don't really want to, anyway." Cuddy rolled her eyes. Same as always.

"Lisa Cuddy." she said, trying to be as professional as one could be sitting atop one of their employees on a chair nearly naked. "Dean of Medicine at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey."

"Camille Saroyan." Cam replied, not moving from her spot. This was probably one of the oddest things she had encountered in the lab, and she had seen some pretty weird things. "I'm assuming you were the two witnesses Booth interviewed a few days ago."

"I'm sure I made a lasting impression. I always do, what with my wit and charm." House said.

"Yeah… lasting impression might be one way of putting it."

"We're all friends now, though, right? You guys'll all have to add me on Facebook and follow my Twitter now." Booth rolled his eyes.

"He's harmless." The FBI agent said.

"Harmless? What happened to all of your accusations about my jail time and my drug habit? For all you know, I could be a psychotic maniac."

"Or a really horny man." Angela added, noting the position of House's hands on Cuddy.

"Right." Cam muttered. "So, if you guys could just clean this all up…"

"We'll get things cleared as soon as possible." Brennan said. Everything that had happened was certainly worth the price of cleaning up the lab.

"I'll be in my office, doing paperwork." Cam said, and walked off to get her work done. Hodgins paled. She wouldn't be impressed when she found the email waiting in her inbox…

"Okay, so, let's get this cleaned up." he said, getting up and pulling Angela with him. "I'll, uh, put the body bags away, and, um, Angela, you can… clean the chairs."

"In a hurry to get out of here, Dr. Hodgins?" Sweets asked, smiling. "Not wanting to deal with the fallout when a certain boss of yours discovers something in her email?"

"I'm sure he just wants to drag his ex or not so ex back to his place for a morning delight." House said lecherously. "Speaking of sex, Cuddy and I need to be getting back to our hote- Ow! Cuddy, stop smacking me! I'm getting a bruise."

"Maybe if you stopped making lewd comments, I'd stop smacking you."

"Or, I could continue the comments, and you could continue the smacking… in a more private setting, of course. Ow! Okay, I saw that one coming."

Booth chuckled. He was surprised that they weren't already married; they acted so much like an old couple.

"Booth, would you mind staying and cleaning up?" Brennan asked, looking up at her partner. He smiled at her.

"Of course, Bones. Then we can get some coffee and pie."

"Is pie code for sex?" House asked, grabbing Cuddy's hand before she could smack him again. "I'm serious, Cuddy, I have no problem with you smacking me, as long as it's not on my _arm_."

"No, pie is code for _pie_. Maybe I can get you to eat some this time, Bones."

"You think that because you've crossed the line between 'just partners' and partners in _all_ senses, you can get her to eat cooked fruit, Agent Booth. You've successfully gotten her to be involved with you romantically, and so you think that you can succeed in this area." Sweets said, smiling smugly.

"I'm still not going to eat apple pie, Booth. I simply do not like my fruit cooked. I will, however, take you up on your offer for coffee. Though I am used to staying up all night, I am quite exhausted."

"Okay-dokey, let's get this place cleaned up and then we can leave."

"Hang on, I need to discuss this new step in your relationship and the effects it will have on your partnership." Booth rolled his eyes. As if they needed the help of a twelve-year old.

"I don't see any point in talking about our romantic involvement until Booth and I have consummated our relationship, which I assume will happen after we go to the diner."

Booth winced. Of course, Brennan would talk about their sex life in her usual clinical manner. Well, he'd just have to get over his… dislike of discussing sexuality, if he was ever going to be in a room with Brennan and Angela.

"Uh, yeah, um, let's clean up." he said hastily, grabbing a body bag and shoving it into a waste receptacle. "Get these chairs back to the conference room, uh…"

"Of course." Sweets said in answer to Brennan's statement. He really wished that he had been able to go with Daisy to Mexico, but the trip had been last minute and he hadn't been able to get the time off. He wasn't exactly looking forward to being the only one not getting laid that day.

"Do you want me to get the disinfectant?" Angela asked.

"Disinfectant? Why do we need disinfectant?" Booth said, puzzled. Had something odd happened while he was going to the restroom… oh.

"I expect that Angela wants to make sure that any… bodily fluids, have been removed from the chairs. Yes, go and get it." Brennan answered. The artist swept out of the room, Hodgins in tow.

"I wonder what _they're_ going to be doing…" House commented. "What, no smack?"

"My hand's getting sore." Cuddy admitted.

"Hmm… I could have made a very awful comment there, but I refrained, wanting to spare your poor hand. So, you put away a few chairs, then we can get out of here and…" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. Cuddy gave him a wink, before getting off his lap.

"We'll see about that." she said, waggling her hips seductively as she went off to get her clothes. She came back a few seconds later, carrying a bundle of fabric. "I forgot," she whispered in his ear. "I need these back." She unclasped her bra and went down to his hips to remove her panties. Sliding them slowly down his legs, being mindful of his scar, she looked up at him, desire evident in her eyes. House gulped. This woman was going to be the death of him.

Angela and Hodgins came back twenty minutes later, both looking very flush and pleased with themselves.

"Did you two have trouble finding the disinfectant?" Booth teased, giving Hodgins the thumbs up.

"I don't think that was why they took so long, Booth. Judging by their colouring and heavy breathing, as well as the after-sex look that I've come to recognize in Angela over the years, I'd say that-" Booth cut her off, putting a finger on her lips.

"I know, Bones, I was just teasing them. Sarcasm."

"Of course. I thought I was getting good at detecting sarcasm, but perhaps not."

"I'll give you some lessons later." the FBI agent replied, giving her a charm smile.

"That was an example of a euphemism." House said, lingerie free and waiting for Cuddy to finish changing.

"I see, giving me 'lessons' actually meaning having sex with me. I think I may be beginning to understand." Booth blushed heavily.

"That wasn't what I meant." he muttered. "I _will_ teach you how to work around figures of speech."

"So we won't be having sex? Just learning about speech patterns of the average American?" Brennan asked. That would be acceptable, but she had been under the impression that Booth would want to do other things.

"Jeez, Bones, do you have to be so blatant? We'll go the diner, and after, we'll…" he looked around, seeing that everyone in the room was focused on him. "Have sex." he finished with a whisper.

"I thought that you preferred intercourse to be 'making love'." his partner asked, in a voice louder than he would have liked.

"You want lessons in that too? I'll teach you how to make love. You'll be learning from the master."

"I believe that would be an enjoyable experience. Angela, would you mind wiping down the chairs? Dr. House, you'll have to get up."

"But my leg hurts…" the diagnostician whined.

"You leg always hurts." Cuddy muttered, coming back from the bathroom.

"That's just because a big mean lawyer and an evil future Dean of Medicine cut part of it out." House shot back, leaning on his cane heavily as he got to his feet. All that sitting hadn't done him any favours, but on the bright side, he still had a mostly full bottle of Vicodin in his pocket, and enough back at the hotel to take out a whale.

"Yeah, yeah, blame me for saving your life. Maybe if we had just stuck with the bypass, you wouldn't be here being a pain in my ass." House thought on that. If they hadn't gone with the muscle removal, he would either still be with Stacy, or dead. Well, this wasn't so bad, really. Chronic pain wasn't really a fair exchange for a relationship with Lisa Cuddy, but he'd have to deal with what he had.

"You'd miss me." he said, putting his arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah right." she mumbled, but House could see her smile.

"I think I got all of them." Angela said, holding a soiled cloth and a bottle of Lysol.

"Excellent." Brennan said. "Booth has cleaned up everything else, so we'll just have to carry the chairs back."

"Go ahead Cuddy; show me those fierce, hospital administrator muscles." House said, gesturing to the chair beside them.

"You're not going to help?"

"Hello, _cripple_. I don't think I have enough Vicodin for that. I better just stay here, while you healthy, whole people do what I can't." Cuddy rolled her eyes.

"Fine." she muttered, picking the chair up. "I'll be right back. House, try not to break anything."

"Oh, Cuddy, I wouldn't do anything like that…" he replied, smiling mischievously.

"Right. Trusting you is like trusting Tony Soprano."

"I have a much smaller list of people dead after wronging me, thank you. Go on, carry that chair." Cuddy went off with the rest of the group, and House was left standing alone, in the middle of the lab.

He went over to pick up a gleaming scalpel.

"Dr. House, I think we'd all prefer if you didn't touch that." came a voice from behind.

"Sorry. I'm so hopped up on narcotics, I wasn't sure if it was real or not. I had to check."

"Right. Have you seen Dr. Hodgins?" Hodgins? Right, the paranoid conspiracy theorist with a thing for that crazy artist.

"Nope." he replied, popping the 'p'.

"Well, _I_ sure have. His ass, at least. If you see him, please tell him to come to my office so I can kick it in person?"

"Will do." House said, tipped his head like a top hat.

"Well, I'm heading back to my office again. It was… _interesting_ to meet you, Dr. House." She offered her hand, not really expecting him to take it. To her surprise, he shook it.

"Likewise… hot middle-aged lady whose name I don't remember. Carrie? Claudia? Candy? Whatever, I don't expect we'll meet again." Cam took her hand back. He certainly was an ass. She walked out of the lab.

"I'm serious. Don't touch anything." she added as an afterthought. It wasn't likely that he'd listen, but she would try anyway.

Everyone returned a few minutes after House had seen the last of Cam's backside.

"Alright. I think everything's back in order." Booth said, putting his arm around Brennan once again. "So, you ready to go, Bones?"

"I think so, yes. After your 'lesson', we'll have to get caught up on the paperwork." Booth grinned at her.

"Let's go then." The two exited, arms around each other. Sweets smiled. He had been waiting for that moment to happen for a long time.

"Back to the hotel, Cuddles?" House asked.

"I have to find my phone first." Cuddy said. "I'm sure I dropped it around here while waiting for Agent Booth to meet us here to go the FBI building."

"We never actually checked the lost and found." House reminded her.  
"Where's Hodgins?" Angela asked, walking up the stairs.

"I don't know." Sweets said. "He was here just a minute ago."

"There he is." Angela said, spotting him walking over to them. "I think he has your phone, Cuddy." Sure enough, Hodgins was carrying Cuddy's Blackberry.

"Thought I'd spare you the trip." he said, handing it to her.

"Okay, well, Hodgie and I are going to go back to his place for breakfast. Anyone need a ride?" Angela asked.

"No. Cuddles and I will be fine. And I'm sure that if Junior here could get a degree in Psychology, he could get a driver's license."

"I have my own car, yes." Sweets added. "I suppose I'll be seeing you guys tonight?"

"For what?" Cuddy asked.

"Booth didn't ask? He and Brennan wanted to meet everyone at Founding Fathers, for dinner. Be there at seven, okay?"

Both couples nodded.

"It was nice meeting all of you." Cuddy said, shaking everyone's hand. "And House, while an ass, had a good time too." He nodded his head quickly.

"Bye." House muttered, leading Cuddy out of the door. Sweets followed a few seconds later, asking him something about an article he wanted to write.

Angela turned to Hodgins.

"So, just us now, huh?"

"Yup." Hodgins smirked.

"Shall we?" Angela took his arm, and walked out of the lab, smiling to herself. Everything had worked out perfectly.


	32. Chapter 32

**This is going to be the second-to-last chapter, but I am going to be posting my new crossover in the next few days as well as the last chapter, so stay tuned! My nnext fic will be set after 'The Goop on the Girl" and 'Wilson'. Thank you for reading and reviewing!**

"Booth, for the last time, I am not going to have any of your pie." Booth and Brennan were in the diner, enjoying breakfast together. Though it was unspoken that some sort of step towards a romantic relationship would be taken soon, they were content to be as they always had been, bickering over the slightest things.

"As I have made very clear before, I do not like my fruit to be cooked. Just because we are about to add another level to our relationship does not mean-"

"Oh, alright Bones, eat your uncooked fruit. But you don't know what you're missing." the FBI agent replied, grinning at her before eating another piece teasingly.

"Actually, Booth, I _do_ know what I'm missing. A year ago, when you left to use the restroom, I snuck a piece of your pie and found it not at all to my liking, just as I had suspected I would find it, knowing that all other applications of cooked fruit I had had in the past were not something that I enjoyed." Booth looked flabbergasted, and not entirely pleased with his partner.

"Wait, you've actually tried the pie? And you didn't tell me? Bones, if I had known that you had actually tried the pie, I wouldn't have bothered you so much."

Brennan just remained silent and smiled softly at him.

"Wait a minute…" Booth said slowly, taking a sip of coffee. "You didn't tell me because you actually _liked_ me bothering you about the pie… You actually listened to Sweet's mumbo-jumbo about it being a 'seduction' and thought that…" Damn, but he had been blind. All of the little things that had been changing about the way they acted around each other had actually been her subtly trying to court him… well, they mustn't have been subtle to everyone else, as he knew that Brennan wasn't the greatest actor, but he had simply dismissed them as his overly-infatuated brain exaggerating everything to his advantage.

"I enjoy our little game about the pie, yes. But I didn't actually believe Sweets' statement… that was utterly ridiculous. It was quite obvious that you were not interested in me, so I took what I could get."

"Not interested in you? Bones, for the past… four years, it's been all I could do not to give in and kiss you… and as much as I wanted to do that, I thought that our working relationship and our friendship was much more important than trying to get into bed with you…wait, you've been interested this whole time? You've been struggling with it the whole time?" Brennan looked at him sadly, and he felt his chest squeeze. He hated, more than nearly anything in the world, to see his Bones sad.

"I, too, didn't want to risk our relationship for something that didn't have any solid reason to work out." She took a breath, looking as if she was going to take a dive off a great height.

"Booth… I've been thinking about it a lot, and I…well, while I _know_ that the attraction that we feel towards each other is caused by reactions to markers, anthropologically speaking, that we look for members of the opposite sex with attributes that would lead to a successful procreation, and I _know_ that the physical signs of deep attraction are caused by the release of chemical messengers, but _we_ have something that goes beyond the superficiality of physical attraction… Booth, I have never been as close to someone as I am to you, and because we have such a deep connection, the things that I feel when I'm around you, though they are caused by, by _science_, they're more _real_ that anything I've ever felt before. You've taught me that love _can_ be a real phenomenon, and all the reasons that I've refused to become close to someone before… I know that you'd _never_ leave me on purpose Booth." Her voice shook, and her eyes filled with tears. Booth took her hand, meeting his partner in the middle of the table.

"I know that you'd try _everything_ in your power to, to make sure that I'm safe, and not alone. I'd like to try this relationship, because now that we both know what we've been keeping from each other… I don't think we can go back to what we were before."

Booth tried to reassure her with a warm smile that lit his chocolate brown eyes up, and it seemed to work, for Brennan smiled right back at him.

"Bones…" he started, rubbing circles on her soft hands. "Thank you… for saying that. I understand what you said, and I know that things… that aren't based in fact and reason… are hard for you, but you've shown me, over and over, that you _are_ a compassionate and beautiful person, someone who isn't a cold robot, someone who genuinely cares about people. I know that you are capable of love, because you're right, love _is_ caused by… chemicals and stuff, but that doesn't make it any less real. We have something that very few people have. We have a connection, and we care deeply about each other. That's love, Bones, real love, not just attraction and lust, but the feeling that to be separated from you would be like to lose a part of me. I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I know that monogamy isn't 'natural', but I want to try, Bones. I want us to go on this journey together." He wiped a few rebellious tears off his partner's face before grabbing her hands again.

"I love you." Booth said to Brennan, for the first, and what would not be the last, time in his life.

***

"Taxis cost too much here." House complained as he and Cuddy walked to the front of their hotel.

"They're not much more than they are in New Jersey." Cuddy commented, opening the door for her employee. He smiled at her in mock gratification, and she rolled her eyes at him. He would never change.

"Yeah, but this is the capital city." he said, pressing the up button impatiently. "They should be free, so unhappy tourists would be less unhappy."

"The government pay that much money to get lost Europeans around for free? That's about as likely as you coming to work clean-shaven, in a tie, wearing your lab coat, without some sort of ulterior motive. Besides, aren't _you_ supposed to be the cynic here? Free taxi fare?"

"I didn't say that it _would_ happen, I said that it _should_ happen." House explained as he limped into the elevator, Cuddy following after. "Then again, there are a lot of things that should happen. For example, we _should_ have a threesome with Thirteen when we get home. But I'm not saying that you would let it happen."

"I don't like Thirteen." Cuddy said, smiling evilly at him. "She's too, 'I'm dying so you should all just piss off and let me be self destructive.' for me. Besides, she _has_ to have some sort of brain damage. I don't see why she would want to sleep with _Foreman_, otherwise."

"Cuddy, you have quite the bad mouth on you. Just wait 'till we get back, I'm going to tell Foreman what you said about him. It's not his fault that he's about as exciting as a game of bridge in an old folks' home."

"You wouldn't dare." she replied, stepping off the elevator. "Besides, I was just saying those things to play your game. Foreman is an excellent doctor, and Dr. Hadley-" The pair walked down the hall to their room.

"Yeah, yeah." House said, cutting her off. "But that doesn't mean that you would want in Foreman's pants. And as for Thirteen…she's HOT. I don't see why you wouldn't want to do her."

"Hmm, I don't know. Maybe because I, unlike her, am not bisexual?" She swept the key card through the door, and let herself and House in.

"Well then who _do_ you want to have a threesome with?" House asked, stepping closer to her as he slammed the door shut with his cane. Cuddy just gave him another evil grin.

"I don't know," she whispered his ear, making the diagnostician shudder unconsciously. "What about Wilson?"

House coughed. "I am NOT having sex with Wilson, and neither are you."

"Possessive, are we? Reminds me of a time when you wouldn't let me go out on dates… I'd say you were a little jealous, House." Cuddy said teasingly, placing her hands on his chest. House took a breath. This woman was driving him crazy again, and they hadn't even done anything yet. Well, not in the hotel.

"Anyone with half a brain wouldn't have let you go out with those losers." he replied, leaning down to smell her hair. He no idea where women got these great smelling shampoos, but whoever was in charge of scenting them was doing a good job.

"Are you… smelling my hair?" Cuddy asked, hearing his intake of breath. "That's very… _romantic_ of you. Does my scent… _intoxicate_ you?" She bit his earlobe carefully, scraping her teeth down it as she released it. House's knees almost buckled.

"Oh yeah," the misanthrope said, placing his hands on her hips. "Definitely driving me crazy. Not as much as you are, though, Devil Woman. I didn't know you had so much seductress in you, Cuddy."

"You have no idea." the Dean of Medicine whispered, turning her face to look at him. By this point, she had him pinned against the wall by the door, and arousal was clear on his face. She had House, world-renowned diagnostician and resident ass at her hospital, right where she wanted him.

"Can I find out?" he asked, winking at her. He couldn't find any problem with their position right now, as it was control-freak Cuddy that really riled him up. If she wanted to seduce him right to her hotel bed, he was fine with that.

"Maybe." she replied demurely, drawing his head towards hers. "We could have been doing this months ago." she whispered against his lips, causing another shudder to travel through his body. "But you were too scared. Scared of me, scared of being human, and risking everything again."

"Again?" he asked, pulling back. He wanted sex, not another life lesson.

"You," Cuddy began, placing a finger on his chest, "Tried to believe that no one could ever love you again because if you risk your heart and your sanity for someone again, they could leave you and break you again. You self-sabotage because you think that comfort in what you think is safety is better than risking everything."  
"I risk things all the time-"

"Mmmm, no you don't. You risk your life, your physicality. Not your emotional wellbeing. You've been there before, and you can't go there again."

"What about you, Miss 'Dating Men for Sex and Becoming a Mother through IVF'? You're not so perfect either!"

"Have I ever said I was? This is stupid, House. Why do we keep arguing?"  
"I don't know, maybe because you keep bringing stupid things up. First, I'm not good enough; now, I don't think I'm good enough, so I'm not. Do you want to do me or not?"

Cuddy laughed bitterly. "That's all it comes down to for you, House, isn't it? I know you don't just want to 'do me', you want a goddamn relationship, and you're too scared to appear anything more than the persona you've been putting on for your entire life. I don't want to argue with you. Forgive me if I wanted to-"

"To what, Cuddy, point out my flaws? I, I don't want to do this right now. Maybe we should just watch TV or something."

"No, House! We were just about to, to sleep together for the first time in over twenty years, and suddenly you shut down, just as I start mentioning more than who I see on the surface. I get it, you've been hurt before, but you've admitted that you can love. Why can't you just let me be more than one of your stupid hookers?"

"Because I _can't_, Cuddy! Yeah, you're right, I'm scared! I don't even know why you want me. I'm a crippled, misanthropic, jerky, unattractive, drug-addicted, alcoholic, son-of-a-" He was cut off by a pair of dry, warm lips, and he almost laughed at how cliché it was. He wrapped his arms around her, and drew her frame closer to his, letting go the notion that none of what would happen between them would last.

Cuddy broke off the kiss a few short seconds later. "There isn't a reason, House. I just do. Believe me, if there were a way I could stop wanting you, I would take it in a heart beat. You _are_ a liability, but you're also too hard on yourself. Let me love you. Let something good happen, because God knows it's been too long since that's happened."

"I'm sorry." House muttered. "I just… mess thing up. All the time. I can't help it. It's like… what my father said, when… well that doesn't matter, but he said that I'd never be… good enough, for anyone. I sure as hell wasn't good enough for him."

"_Never_ say you're not good enough for me. I'm not perfect, and I don't deserve the world. What I do deserve is that painfully annoying employee of mine that never wants to jump me when I want to jump him."

"Are we… are we good?" House asked, looked her in the eye. "I mean, we're still going to argue until the ends of the earth, and I'm going to regret saying this later, but I want this to work. I want us to work."

"Yeah, House. We're good. Now, drag me off to your bedroom and have your wicked way with me." The diagnostician smiled, before giving her what was quite possibly the best kiss she had ever had in her life.

"Finally, we found something we can agree on." he said, and she laughed, kissing him again, as she walked and he limped to his bedroom.


	33. Chapter 33

**Here it is, the last chapter, my Christmas present to everyone. Thank you to all the reviewers and everyone who stuck with the fic, I've really enjoyed writing it. Make sure you check out my next House/Bones crossover, "The Man in the Mirror", which might just be up today! Thanks for reading!**

Booth was nervous. He and Brennan had been waiting at the Founding Fathers for over fifteen minutes, and no one had showed up. No Sweets, no Cam, no Hodgins, no Angela, and he would have definitely noticed if House and his hot boss had showed up.

"Booth, you're looking very tense. Are you sure I didn't over exert you during intercourse this afternoon? I did inform you that the position I wanted to try was very taxing on the body. We could have tried something else if your back was going to be an issue."

"Geez Bones, you're making me feel like an old cripple. My back's fine, I'm just… waiting for everyone to arrive, that's all. And would you mind not talking about our… _sex life_ in public?"

"I'm sure Dr. House would take offense at the cripple comment. And I still don't understand why you're so insistent on my discretion regarding sex. No one can hear us, Booth. It's too loud in here, and no one is sitting close enough to us, anyway. Besides, I'm sure that everyone will arrive eventually."

"Yeah, or they're all busy having screwing each other." Booth muttered, taking another sip of his drink.

"Actually, Sweets wouldn't be having sex, as his partner is out of town. Unless, of course, he is cheating on her, or is in a polygamous relationship, or has enlisted the services of a prostitute. It's nearly seven-thirty, too, and though I'm sure that the couples we've invited tonight have high sexual stamina, twelve hours of sex seems slightly excessive. In any matter, they would have at least made time to meet us."

"I know, Bones, it's just, I don't like waiting."

"I understand." Brennan replied. Just then, the door swung open and a windy looking Jack Hodgins stepped in, Angela in tow.

"Sorry we're late." the entomologist said, grabbing a seat next to Booth, Angela sitting beside him

"Please don't tell me you were having too much sex." Booth grumbled, noticing the artist's joyful glow.

"I could…" she smirked, giving Hodgins a wink. "But that would be lying."

"Well, I think that it's good that you two have decided to pursue a romantic relationship again." Brennan said, looking at Booth for confirmation. He nodded his head, giving Hodgins a grin.

He smiled awkwardly. "Actually, we haven't really thought about that…at all."

"We just kinda… got back to his place, and went straight to bed. I forgot how good he was at-"

"Okay, okay, no details. So, you're just going to take things as they come?"

"I guess." Angela replied, smiling at the man she had shared the day with. "We're just going to start off fresh, and see where things go."

"Speaking of sex, what did you two get up to today, Dr. B?" Hodgins asked, grinning at Brennan.

"Well, after breakfast, Booth drive us back to my apartment, where we went through the usual ritual of asking him inside, where he cornered me in my living room and-"

"They don't really need to hear that stuff, Bones." Booth said quickly, cutting her off.

"Booth wishes to keep the details private, although I may recount the day to Angela later." Booth coughed at that, visibly embarrassed, but said nothing. "We spend most of the day in my bedroom, although I did make macaroni and cheese for lunch, before we had intercourse again on the cou-"

"Bones!" Hodgins laughed at the look on Booth's face. It was totally priceless.

"Very well. I assume your day was spent in the same way?"

"Yup." Angela replied, giving her ex-ex-lover's arm a squeeze.

"Do you guys have anything else to talk about besides… sex?" Booth asked impatiently.

"It's only logical, Booth. Our new relationships are the newest thing in our lives, and therefore, the easiest to talk about. If you have anything you want to talk about, you're welcome to discuss it." Booth took another drink. It was at these moments that Brennan's nonchalance about sexuality wasn't a good thing. But that afternoon… well, he had certainly learned a lot.

The two couples had been so busy talking to each other that they hadn't noticed House and Cuddy grab seats next to Brennan.

"What are we talking about?" House asked. "Did you guys have as much sex as we did? There's a lot of things you can do on a king-size bed, you know."

"Oh, believe me, I know." Angela replied, winking at him.

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Booth shouted, drawing the eyes of several patrons. "Sorry." he mumbled, seeing the looks on everyone else's face. House just laughed.

"Scotch on the rocks." he said to the barman, who had been standing nearby. "And something fruity and feminine for my girlfriend."

"I'll have a dry martini." Cuddy said, rolling her eyes.

"Girlfriend, hey?" Booth asked, grinning at House. "Good for you." He gave the older man a thumbs up.

"Yeah, yeah, what about you? Get your hot partner into bed yet?"

"Please don't get her started." Booth said quickly, before Brennan could open her mouth.

"I'm assuming that's a yes. So, we're just waiting for the baby shrink and your boss lady, right?"

"Cam just texted me saying she'd be here in five." Angela added, closing her phone and taking a sip of her sangria. "I don't know where Sweets is, though. He's usually pretty punctual."

"Punctuality is for suckers." House said, sticking out his tongue. "Isn't that right, Cuddy?"

"Just because we're sleeping together doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you, House."

"I didn't come to work on time before, and I'm not doing it now, no matter how much you say you're going to withhold sex. And that's our story, we're sleeping together? Don't you women like more romantic titles? I'm not going to bring you to cocktail hour and introduce you as my FWB."

Booth groaned. They were probably going to start arguing again. He and Brennan had already solved everything. They were simply going to be partners, in every sense of the word.

"Since when do you go to cocktail hour?" Cuddy asked.

"Well, what am I going to tell my mother? I can hardly call you my fuck-buddy."

"Why is this so important to you?"

"Me? This isn't important to me, it's important to you! You're the woman in this relationship; don't you want a fancy label?"

"I don't need any romantic stuff, House; I just need this to work. I didn't want to label you as my anything because I didn't want to scare you off."

"No, you're ashamed of me. You just want to keep me your dirty little secret. I called you my girlfriend, didn't I?"

"So you _want_ this to go all public? You want to be the talk of the Nurse Station?" Angela sighed. House and Cuddy were as bad as Booth and Brennan.

"I don't actually care; you do. If you want to be in a relationship with me, I don't want to have to hide it. That's stupid. You're the Dean of Medicine; you should date whoever the hell you like."

"Look, House, I'm not ashamed of you, I just don't want a big fuss over this."

"Yeah? Well, you got the fuss! You didn't think people would find out when we got back?"

"Why would they? You're hardly going to hold my hand in the lunch line and bring me fruit baskets in the middle of my meetings."

"And what if I want to? I can't act like your boyfriend in the hospital?"  
"I didn't think you'd want to! House, you don't get it, I-"

"Oh, I get it just fine. I was just going to be your boy toy, sneaking out of your house in the middle of the night, putting on a façade in front of everyone else. What part of that kind of relationship would make me any less miserable?"

"Well, maybe if you'd listen, you'd-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Booth growled. "You love him, he loves you, you both want a semi-public relationship, no one is ashamed of anyone, ta-da. Can we stop talking about our relationships for five minutes? Please?"

House stared at him for a few seconds. "Alright." he said brightly, putting his arm around Cuddy. "That sounds fair, right Cuddles? We're going to tell Wilson and see what happens from there?"

"Only Wilson." she replied, giving him a serious look. "You can't tell your team."

"Oh, but they're such bright young things, surely they'll figure out why I'm so happy all of the time."

"You still can't tell them. Only Wilson can know, and he better keep his mouth shut; it'll be bad enough hearing him lecture us about how we should have gotten together sooner."

"Sorry I'm late." Cam said, as she sat down next to Angela. "Traffic was pretty bad. There's an accident a couple blocks down. Something to do with a motor home."

Booth groaned inwardly. He had a distinct feeling that there would be a dead body that needed indentifying soon, and his gut was rarely wrong.

"So where's Sweets?" Hodgins asked, gesturing for the barman.

"I don't know." Cam answered, ordering a glass of merlot. "I haven't heard from him all day."

"Well, he better hurry up, or we'll start without him." Booth said, smiling at Brennan.  
"Start what?" Angela asked, looking puzzled. "You guys aren't getting married, or anything, are you?"

"Despite the change in our relationship and my views towards monogamy, I still have no desire to get married." Brennan said, sipping her drink.

"We just… want him to get here soon, that's all." Booth said cryptically.

"Alright then." Hodgins muttered. "Ah, there's young Dr. Sweets." he said as he spotted the psychologist in the doorway.

"Traffic." Sweets panted as he sat down next to Cuddy. "I had to run over here from my car. Doesn't look like it's going to be clearing anytime soon."

"Just you wait, Bones, there's going to be a dead body over there, and we're going to have to go over and look at it."

"That's entirely possible." Brennan said. "Well, now that we're all here, Booth and I have an announcement."

"You're not going to run away to Fiji, or anything, are you?" House asked sarcastically. "Cause if you are, you gotta bring me with you."

"Booth and I are not going away. We are merely expressing our gratitude towards all of your for assisting us both in the case and uncovering the feelings we have towards each other. Thanks to Dr. House and his suggestion of Truth or Dare, Booth and I have moved forward in our relationship."

"Sweet." House said. "This conference turned out better than I thought it would."

"The conference got cancelled, House." Cuddy rolled her eyes. He would have been bored out his mind listening to people talk about MRIs.

"Even so, I didn't think I'd walk away from this trip with a sexy new girlfriend." Cuddy blushed. Something about the way House complimented her in his offhand, sexist way made her feel better than anything else.

"So, that's all you invited here for? To thank us for getting you two in each other's pants?"

"We'd also like to thank Dr. Sweets for being supportive to us for the past year. He has been an admittedly valuable resource, even if his intelligence is wasted on psychology." Brennan said, ignoring House's comment.

"And before we have to go chasing another killer, we'd like to propose a toast, to relationships new and old." Booth added, picking up his drink. They spent a few minutes clinking glasses, before everyone took a drink.

Booth's phone went off, just as everyone put their drinks down.

"Ah, Bones, looks like I was right. Some poor guy got blown up in a motor home, and they think it was no accident. Better get going."

"It was nice meeting you, Drs. House and Cuddy." Brennan said, shaking Cuddy's hand and skipping over House's completely.

"What about my handshake?" the diagnostician whined.

"I've observed that you decline handshakes, Dr. House, so I decided I wouldn't offer you one." the forensic anthropologist replied, as Booth helped her with her coat.

"See you guys in the lab, I guess." Booth said, as he and his partner stepped out the door.

"Stay out of trouble, you two." Angela called after them. "Well, Jack and I better go. We're going to see a movie."

"Don't make out too much in the back row, or you'll miss the entire plot." House told them. "Do you wanna see a movie, Cuddy?"

"We have to pack for our flight tomorrow." Cuddy replied, smiling. "Maybe when we get back."

"We can go to that fancy restaurant that Wilson's always bragging about for dinner too."

"Pulling out all the stops, Dr. House?" Hodgins asked, grinning. "She must be pretty special."

"If I don't please her, she'll drag me off to her dungeon and feast upon my innards." he replied, making a face. "Many men have been lost in Cuddy's house after nights of bad sex."

"Yeah, or they never showed up because you scared them off." Cuddy said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, don't blame me for your years of singlehood. You've probably just been waiting for me."

"Yeah right." she mumbled, but she smiled all the same. "It was nice meeting you two, Angela and Dr. Hodgins."

"Likewise, Dr. Cuddy." Angela grinned. "If you ever come back to D.C, visit the lab, will you?"

"We'll be sure to look you up." Cuddy said, before House could slip any rude comments in.

"Have a good time at the movie." Sweets said, smiling at them.

"Thanks!" the newly reunited coupled said as they walked out.

"So, back to the hotel again, Cuddy?" House asked, finishing his drink.

"Guess so." she replied.  
"I also have to be going." Sweets said, polishing off his glass of wine.

"Yeah, whatever. Have fun shrinking heads or whatever it is you do when you get out of college."

"Actually, Dr. House, I work for the FBI as a-"

"Don't really care." House said, cutting him off. "See ya, then."

"It was a pleasure to make your acquaintances, Dr. House and Cuddy. I hope you have a safe flight."

"Thank you." Cuddy said, getting up. "Come on, House, let's get a taxi. Do you need a ride, Dr. Sweets?"

"No thank you." the psychologist answered. "I'm gonna stay here for a while."

"Suit yourself." House said, slipping on his jacket. "Bye, kid."

Sweets smiled to himself as he watched the two doctors leave together. All he needed was Daisy, and this day would have been perfect.

His phone buzzed.

"Hello. Dr. Sweets." he answered. "Daisy! Why are you calling? Isn't the long distance fee- You're coming home? Great? Yeah, I'll be there to pick you up in the morning." Perfect. Just wait 'till Daisy got wind of what had happened

***

James Wilson sat waiting for his two friends in the airport, wondering where on earth they were. Though he didn't want to admit it, he had been rather lonely while they had been gone, just as he had been the last time they had gone to a medical conference together, and couldn't wait for them to arrive.

The plane had apparently arrived, but he couldn't spot House or Cuddy in the rush of passengers anywhere.

"Wilson, Wilson!" came a voice from behind him. He twirled around, to see House and Cuddy standing together, House leaning on his cane.

"Sorry." the diagnostician smirked. "We kind of lost track of time, trying to join the mile-high club."

'If only." the oncologist muttered. House and Cuddy just needed to get over themselves and get together before one of them went crazy or something.

"Excuse me?" House asked, mock offended. "Did you just doubt the credibility of my story?"

"House was just having some trouble with the brakes on his wheelchair." Cuddy said, glaring at him, hoping the wheelchair comment would shut him up. It, of course, didn't.

"I thought we were going to tell him." House said to her in a stage whisper.

"Tell me what?" Wilson asked. If they were hiding something from him… well, he would find out.

"Cuddy and I had wild sex all day yesterday and are now dating." House said, matter-of-factly. Wilson's jaw dropped open.

"You're just screwing with me." he said, recovering. "There's no way you guys actually did that. There would be… _signs_."

"Like this?" House said, before pulled Cuddy into a passionate kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, figuring this was the best way to let their friend know.

"No way!" Wilson said, grinning. "Do you guys have any idea how long I've been waiting for this?"

"Actually, yes, seeing as you've been badgering us every step of the way." House grumbled, breaking off the kiss. He still kept his arms around his girlfriend, though, and Wilson could tell that he was genuinely happy.

"Wait, how did this happen?" the younger man asked, wanting all the details. Oh, they would be having a big long discussion about this, that was for sure.

"It's a long story, Wilson." House said serenely. "If you drive us home, maybe we'll tell you in the car…"

**The End.**


	34. Chapter 34

Just a message that the last chapter, Chapter 33, is up. The alert service doesn't seem to be working.

Thanks for reading!


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